Halfbrick Studios, the game developer behind the mobile smash Fruit Ninja, is acquiring Onan Games, which created the Mandreel software porting technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Mandreel enables developers to convert C++ and Objective-C applications based on OpenGL ES to web apps. Halfbrick previously leveraged Mandreel to port its Monster Dash to Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Chrome Store; other mobile titles converted using Mandreel include Gameloft's GT Racing Motor Academy, Glu Mobile's Bug Village and Gun Bros, and Rubicon's Great Little War Game.
Halfbrick said it will rely on the Mandreel technology to extend games like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride to web platforms including Facebook. In addition, Halfbrick plans to license the Mandreel Framework SDK to its client base, opening up a new revenue stream.
Halfbrick Studios first emerged in 2001, originally targeting handheld devices like the GameBoy Advance and PlayStation Portable. Fruit Ninja now tops 150 million downloads to date; Fruit Ninja Kinect, developed for Xbox, passed 1 million downloads earlier this month, underlining the franchise's potential across multiple platforms.
For more:
- read this release
- see this FierceMobileContent article
Related articles:
Forecast: In-game purchase revenues to reach $4.8B in 2016
Survey: Half of all App Store games generate less than $3K
Flurry: Freemium titles yield two-thirds of App Store gaming revenues
Flurry: iOS, Android games rake in $800M in 2010