Zynga’s New Game ZombieSmash is Probably From an Undisclosed Acquisition
A game from Zynga called ZombieSmash popped up on our radar this evening.
Curiously, its owner used to be named GameDoctors, an independent studio from Bielefeld, Germany founded by two brothers three years ago. But the owner’s name just changed to Zynga, even though the app has been out for nearly two years. Zynga has not immediately replied to requests for comment.
It may be a sign that Zynga acquired GameDoctors or a sign that the company is starting to publish third-party iOS games. In the prospectus last month for Zynga’s initial public offering, the company said it acquired two companies between the end of the third quarter and Dec. 15 for an aggregate purchase price of $4.9 million. The most likely explanation we’re hearing about from multiple sources — though not confirmed yet — is that this is one of them.
Alternately, Zynga has made number of hires suggesting a move toward publishing. It recently poached Sony’s Rob Dyer, who now heads partner publishing. In September, it also hired Disney game publishing exec Adam Sussman, who used to work at EA Mobile.
Publishing could help defray the risks of being a hits-driven business and help the company cultivate relationships with independent studios it may one day eventually want to acquire. It would also put it in competition with EA’s Chillingo label and with other dual game developers and publishers like 6Waves-LOLApps.
January 15th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
[...] Zynga’s New Game ZombieSmash is Probably From an Undisclosed Acquisition [...]
January 15th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
[...] Zynga’s New Game ZombieSmash is Probably From an Undisclosed Acquisition [...]
January 15th, 2012 at 6:46 pm
[...] Publishing could help defray the risks of being a hits-driven business and help the company cultivate relationships with independent studios it may one day eventually want to acquire. It would also put it in competition with EA’s Chillingo label and with other dual game developers and publishers like 6Waves-LOLApps.（source:insidemobileapps） [...]
January 18th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
[...] developer GameDoctors appeared on our radar late last week as its older game, Zombie Smash, suddenly reappeared in the App Store rankings. We also heard about [...]
April 26th, 2012 at 9:18 am
[...] is a castle defense-style title developed by the Zynga owned German studio Game Doctors.The game has been available for iOS devices in separate phone and [...]
May 14th, 2012 at 9:49 am
[...] If the $3.8 million reports are accurate, the Wild Needle deal is right in line with Zynga’s typical acquisition spend. According to the company’s IPO filings, Zynga spent $40.6 million on acquisitions in the first nine months of 2011. Some of the mobile pickups among those 13 companies were Toronto’s Five Mobile, New York’s Astro Ape Studios, San Francisco’s Page44 Studios and Germany’s GameDoctors. [...]
May 24th, 2012 at 1:55 am
[...] We hear this was a talent-sized deal, which is in line with most Zynga acquisitions. Zynga usually does smaller deals in the $5 to 20 million range for teams of game developers. But it has bumped up spending over the last year and a half, as the value of Zynga’s equity has become priced in and even declined over the last year. OMGPOP, for example, took all cash in its $180 million acquisition. Another small developer Zynga picked up recently was GameDoctors, which makes Zombie Smash. [...]