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Melting away: Digital Chocolate offloads Barcelona studio on Ubisoft

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Melting away: Digital Chocolate offloads Barcelona studio on Ubisoft
A year and a half since former CEO Trip Hawkins departed, former mobile gaming powerhouse Digital Chocolate has sold its 48-person strong Barcelona studio to Ubisoft.

The deal – uncovered by TechCrunch – will see the French publisher take charge of Digital Chocolate Spain's technology and brands, though it has no plans to acquire any of the firm's other assets outside of the country.

Candy crushed

The news comes after a period of downscaling at the company, with layoffs part and parcel of its restructuring efforts.

Speaking on the firm's decline at the time of his departure, Hawkins claimed Digital Chocolate's enthusiasm for Facebook meant the firm was in trouble when the social network began to cut back on "game spam".

"A change in viral is going to reduce your MAU, and a change in the return rate is going to reduce your DAU; if you reduce the DAU you're going to reduce revenue," said Hawkins back in May 2012.

"I do think Digital Chocolate's going to do a much better job; it already is doing a better job on the mobile side this year, but it's just late."

Little has been heard of Digital Chocolate officially since Hawkins' departure, though the company is without a major hit on smartphones to speak of, with its Facebook business also suffering decline.

[source: TechCrunch]

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.