Kixeye partners with ngmoco to bring Backyard Monster to Mobage
San Francisco-based studio Kixeye is the latest outfit to be courted by Japanese social giant DeNA, with the developer signing up to support mobile games platform Mobage.
Conducted through DeNA's US subsidiary ngmoco, Kixeye has agreed to bring its Facebook real-time strategy release Backyard Monsters to both iOS and select Android devices through Mobage, adding to the platform's body of western-focused releases.
Focused eye
The deal represents Kixeye's first move in mobile, with the studio having focused on web-based releases to-date.
"Our focus is developing super high quality games for the browser, but this is an opportunity for us to experiment on the mobile platform and broaden the reach of one of our most successful games," said Kixeye's SVP of marketing Brandon Barber.
"We're confident mobile users will enjoy spilling blood in Backyard Monsters just as much as they do on Facebook."
To date, players on the Facebook version of Backyard Monsters have amassed 175 million hours of play time through more than 20 million installs.
Race for the west
For both ngmoco and DeNA, the Kixeye partnerships comes against a backdrop of rival GREE making significant inroads in the west ahead of the global roll out of its revised mobile games platform.
"We're committed to building the best portfolio of games for our social entertainment network, Mobage," added ngmoco CEO Neil Young.
"Kixeye games are top notch, and we are enthusiastic about our partnership to bring Backyard Monsters to mobile audiences worldwide."
