Firemint has announced it has acquired fellow Australian studio Infinite Interactive for an undisclosed fee.

Infinite, which was founded back in 1989, will now be incorporated into Firemint's operations, with the two developers set to share the latter's offices in Melbourne and release games under the Firemint name.

No puzzle purchase

Best known for its Puzzle Quest series, Infinite founder Steve Fawkner will take on a product management role at Firemint, with his former studio continuing to work on existing projects.

"Firemint has had huge success designing, developing and publishing great original games," Fawkner said.

"By joining forces, we now have a way to further develop some of the exciting new concepts we've been working on. This new position really frees me up to focus on game design and I can't wait to get stuck into it."

The next stepBoth Fawkner and Firemint founder Rob Murray claim to have been friends for years, with the takeover being pitched as the result of a natural evolution of the two companies' relationship.

"Steve and I have been talking about working together for a long time, and I remember him showing me an early version of Puzzle Quest," Murray added.

"This inspired me to make a game during my own holidays two years later, which was Flight Control – and now, another two years later, we’ve finally found a way to work together."

[source: Firemint]