Creator of Kingdoms of Camelot Kabam has announced its acquisition of two mobile game studios, TapZen and Magic Pixel Games.
The buy out adds Los Angeles to Kabam's growing list of offices, as the two companies are to be merged into a new studio.
The deal also brings industry veteran Mike Verdu to Kabam's executive team, who founded TapZen after tenures as COO at Zynga and VP of Electronic Arts Los Angeles.
“Joining Kabam was an opportunity we could not pass up,” he said.
“I’ve been impressed at how Kabam has quickly become a leader in the free-to-play games space, and I look forward to helping the team drive the evolution of mobile games into the next generation.”
New Culver City offices
“Welcoming TapZen and Magic Pixel into the Kabam family is another significant milestone for Kabam,” says Kabam co-founder and CEO Kevin Chou.
“The addition of Mike Verdu augments our world-class leadership team, and having a Los Angeles studio will strengthen Kabam’s already-deep relationships with our Hollywood partners.”
Establishing a proximity to Tinseltown is presumably a significant part of Kabam's decision in buying the two studios, having already worked on major Hollywood franchises including The Hobbit, Fast & Furious and games from within the Marvel universe.
Neither are TapZen and Magic Pixel Games strangers to each other, having worked together previously on mobile strategy game This Means War!.
“Kabam has a proven track record of bringing awesome strategy games to global audiences,” adds Magic Pixel's Michael Seegers.
“We are thrilled to become a part of their team and bring our talents to an even bigger stage.”
This brings Kabam's number of studio acquisitions up to nine since 2010, though details of the deal have not been released.
