Ubisoft who has been working hard to fend off a takeover from French media conglomerate Vivendi, has just made an offensive move on the mobile market picking up free-to-play publisher Ketchapp, whose biggest claim to fame may be 2048, a game that cloned popular indie puzzler Threes. Ketchapp has had a number of other successes since launching in 2014 and its apps have been downloaded 700 million times.
"With Ketchapp, Ubisoft acquires a highly profitable publisher with a successful portfolio of free-to-play games for mobile," declared Jean-Michel Detoc, Executive Director of Ubisoft's mobile business. "This acquisition gives Ubisoft one of the world's leading mobile game publishers and reinforces our advertising capabilities in mobile gaming."
"We are thrilled to become part of Ubisoft's international network of talented teams," said Antoine and Michel Morcos, Managing Directors and co-founders of Ketchapp. "We founded Ketchapp with the intention of creating captivating gaming experiences, and we are looking forward to leveraging Ubisoft's creativity and resources to enrich our existing and upcoming titles."
As is typically the case with deals of this kind, there are still some conditions that need to be met before the deal officially closes which is expected in Ubisoft's third quarter (starting October 1st).