Though both the price and the motivation remain a mystery – at least officially – Disney has confirmed it has acquired Finnish based studio Rocketpack.

In a statement to TechCrunch, a spokesperson for the company said Rocketpack – which is behind Rocket Engine, a tool designed to allow plugin-free browser based game development – is now a full member of the Disney family.

Business boost

"We can confirm that The Walt Disney Company has acquired Rocketpack, an integrated solution for plugin-free browser game development," the spokesperson said.

"Through a merger agreement, Rocketpack is now a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company reporting into Disney Interactive Media Group."

One of TechCrunch's sources claims Disney paid out somewhere in the region of $10-20 million for Rocketpack, though the company itself is yet to release any details officially.

Rocketpack's engine should enable developers to publish HTML5 based games that can compete with native releases while bypassing app stores altogether, allowing Disney to take complete control of its output on smartphone markets.

[source: TechCrunch]