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Kabam acqui-hires Dawn of Steel dev Superweapon to boost its LA studio

Consolidation move

Date Type Companies involved Size
May 26th, 2016 acquisition Kabam
Kabam Los Angeles
Superweapon
Not disclosed
Kabam acqui-hires Dawn of Steel dev Superweapon to boost its LA studio

Following its recent restructuring, Kabam has moved to boost its Los Angeles studio with the acqui-hiring of Dawn of Steel developer Superweapon.

Also based in LA, Superweapon was a core six-man team consisting of veterans from EA, Zynga, Relic and Crytek.

It will join work on the two unannounced massively multiplayer mobile games Kabam LA has in production.

Strong debut

Superweapon launched strategy game Dawn of Steel with German publisher Flaregames in late 2015 to critical acclaim - not least on PocketGamer.biz.

However, the title didn't trouble the top grossing charts, peaking at #117 on the UK and #339 on the US iPhone top grossing charts.

Kabam isn't buying the assets of Superweapon, just the staff, so as PocketGamer.biz understands, ownership of the game will revert to Flaregames.

Better together

"Great mobile games are made by great teams," commented Kabam's President of Studios and CCO, Mike Verdu.

"These teams are made up of top tier talent but also have cohesion, muscle memory, and chemistry that allows them to work closely together to create amazing entertainment experiences."

Indeed, Verdu previously worked with Superweapon CEO Amer Ajami at EA on strategy titles such as Command & Conquer 3 and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II.

In addition, the strategy-focused Kabam LA was formed in early 2015 by the acquisition of Magic Pixel Games and TapZen, of which Verdu was the CEO.

"Acquiring teams of super stars who have already found their groove and then giving them the runway to do great things is a winning strategy," he added.

Amer Ajami commented: "We are excited to join the talented team at Kabam Los Angeles and infuse our deep industry knowledge and passion for game making to the titles being developed at this studio.

"In many ways, this feels like a homecoming."


Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.