Disney Buys Social Gaming Company

LOS ANGELES: Marking an aggressive move into the social gaming space, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Playdom for $563.2 million.

The deal will allow Disney to bring its characters into the world of online social gaming, one of the fastest-growing segments of the video-game market. Playdom’s titles, including Social City, Sorority Life, Market Street and Bola, engage around 42 million active players each month.

"This acquisition furthers our strategy of allocating capital to high-growth businesses that can benefit from our many characters, stories and brands, delivering them in a creatively compelling way to a new generation of fans on the platforms they prefer," Bob Iger, Disney’s president and chief executive, said in a statement.

"We are at the start of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the way people of all ages play games with their friends across devices, platforms and geographical boundaries," commented Playdom’s chief executive, John Pleasants, in a statement.