 |
| Amazon acquires Double Helix Games |
The report was first revealed on TechCrunch, stating that the deal was made for the studio's talent and intellectual properties.
"Amazon has acquired Double Helix as part of our ongoing commitment to build innovative games for customers," an Amazon representative said in a statement to TechCrunch.
The Irving, California studio's seventy-five employees will continue the current line-up of Double Helix games and its future plans.
Information on the deal was reportedly leaked through an invitation to a joint recruiting event between the two companies that was scheduled for next week in Los Angeles, TechNews said.
The independent gaming studio was founded in 2007 when Shiny Entertainment, creators of Earthworm Jim and Enter the Matrix, merged with The Collective Inc., makers of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, citing on their website that their combined experience stretches back almost twenty years.
Throughout the years the studio has developed a handful of games including Silent Hill: Homecoming for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and is set to launch a reboot of Capcom's classic title Strider later this month. It also released Blockbuster-based titles such as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters.
While Amazon has its own game studio, which developed mobile games such as Air Patriots and Airport Mania on iOS and Android, the deal adds speculation that the company is pushing to enter the video gaming industry as major competition with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.
The news comes just a week after rumors surfaced that Amazon plans to launch its own Android-powered console that will allow for both streaming and downloading games.
The video game blog VG247.com reported, citing multiple anonymous sources, that Amazon's new console will launch this year and will be priced below $300. This follows Amazon's marketing of Kindle Fire HD against Apple's iPad.
According to the report, the unit shown to publishers is described as "roughly the same size as the PSone redesign, grey in color, oblong in shape and with sharp edges," although the console may receive a redesign before an official release.
What you do you think about the deal? Let us know in the comment section below.
0 comments: