GREE ramps up US assault with App Ant acquisition

Japanese social gaming specialist GREE's love affair with the west continues, with the firm announcing the acquisition of US developers App Ant Studios.

The San Francisco-based outfit, which previously worked with GREE on the development of Android release Dino Life, will now be integrated into GREE's existing operations.

Ant attack

"The team at App Ant Studios has continually impressed us with the quality of its engineering, art, and overall product," said GREE CEO Naoki Aoyagi of the move.

"They share the same strong passion GREE has for mobile social gaming and we genuinely respect their dedication to evolving the gaming industry.

App Ant worked with GREE on Dino Life

"With our constantly growing and evolving mobile game market, having such exceptional talent on board to build great experiences for the latest hardware is a huge priority for us."

Eye on experience

App Ant itself was formed by a team of veterans with 12 collective years of experience at the likes of EA and Sony Ericsson.

The studio's top bods are set to take up "leadership roles" within GREE's development and engineering teams as the Japanese firm looks to deliver the "world's leading global mobile gaming ecosystem."

That drive was initially kicked into motion by the formation of an in-house San Francisco studio back in February.

Studios have also since been formed in both Vancouver and London.