DeNA has signed up four new independent developers for its Mobage platform – Oktagon Games, 4PLAT, Grab Games and Machineworks Northwest LLC.

Machineworks is perhaps best known for its iOS and Android adaptations of Duke Nukem 3D, its 3D Hunting series of deer hunting games, and for its work on J2ME games for feature phones.

Korean developer 4PLAT, meanwhile, is a distinctly modern enterprise, dedicated as it is to producing connected entertainment for the four platforms of mobile, tablet, PC and smart TVs.

In a statement, DeNA claimed that 4PLAT specialises in "the development and global service" of real-time battle social games, although our research didn't turn up any English language games on iOS or Android.

Viral channels

Oktagon Games is a Brazillian mobile gaming start up founded in 2008, and its existing titles include casual iOS management game Hunger Calls. Its latest game, the medicinal match-three Viral Collapse, was released through Mobage for iOS and Android in December 2012.

It looks as though the developer has a more mid-core project in the works, too. Cuanatun is a strategy game in development for iOS and Android that casts players as high-tech insects, and will presumably be published by Mobage.

Finally, Los Angeles-based Grab Games is a mobile and online social gaming outfit formed in late 2009. Grab's existing mobile games include iOS arcade game Gold Miner Go!, Android and iOS title Penguin Patrol and Android casino game Grab Money Slots.

More recently, Grab Games has worked with DeNA to release 777 Slots through Mobage, which hit Android back in December 2012 and arrived on iOS just days ago.

Diff'rent strokes

"We set out last year to find the best developers that align with our vision for gaming, and we're excited to bring these new games and those following soon to the Mobage platform," explained DeNA's senior director of third party relations Barry Dorf.

"Through these new partnerships, we're supporting our company's vision of delighting players by offering a variety of fun and engaging mobile gaming experiences to consumers."

Some of DeNA's most successful games to-date to have come from third parties.
Rage of Bahamut, for instance, dominated the top grossing charts in 2012, particularly on Google Play, prompting DeNA to spend $92 million on a 20 percent stake in developer Cygames.