Zynga’s books might not look as good as they did when they were generating cash hand-over-fist, but that isn’t stopping the company from spending some of its cash reserves to continue to build out its gaming empire. The company confirmed in its earnings report that it is acquiring gaming developer NaturalMotion. Zynga is paying $527 million in cash for NaturalMotion, which is the company’s largest acquisition to date. Zynga will be absorbing NaturalMotion’s 260 employees, while at the same time laying off 314 employees to keep its workforce near the 1800 mark.
“Our goal from a content perspective is to create top hits that engage mainstream global audiences. Our winning aspiration is to be the industry leader by delivering more #1 games than any other competitor. To accelerate these efforts and build on our core growth strategy, I’m pleased to share the announcement that we have signed an agreement to acquire NaturalMotion, a leading mobile game and technology developer based in Oxford.
NaturalMotion expands Zynga’s creative pipeline, accelerates our mobile growth, and brings next-generation technology and tools to Zynga that will fast-track our ability to deliver consumers more hit games. Bringing Zynga and NaturalMotion together is a bold step in the right direction at the right time.
The NaturalMotion team is led by renowned technology innovators, including Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Torsten Reil and Vice President of Games Barclay Deeming. Over the last ten years, they have proven their ability to blend their breakthrough technologies like Euphoria, with high-fidelity animation to create delightful mobile hits. Their games CSR Racing in the Racing category and Clumsy Ninja in the People simulation category have both achieved top of the chart status. With NaturalMotion, we will – in total – have five top brands and capabilities in Farm, Casino, Words, Racing and People.
Combining NaturalMotion’s strengths with Zynga’s ability to develop breakthrough social features while sustaining live games over time, offers us a huge opportunity to redefine the gaming industry and deliver consumers blockbuster entertainment experiences.”
NaturalMotion was featured in Apple’s september 2012 keynote and was used to showcase the power of Apple’s A5 processor. It finally hit the App Store in November 2013 and made headlines as the first iOS title to include a video preview.
