Fox acquires former Kabam studio Aftershock

Earlier this year, Fox had formed a new games division called FoxNext. Today, the new group announced its first acquisition: Aftershock, the mobile studio that was spun off from Kabam when the publisher was sold to NetMarble. The acquisition gives FoxNext an immediate leg-up in the mobile space as Aftershock's expertise had helped Kabam grow franchises like Marvel Contest of Champions, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth, Kingdoms of Camelot and Dragons of Atlantis into $100 million grossing properties.

Aftershock's Aaron Loeb will lead the new team at FoxNext as he assumes the role of President of Studios for FoxNext Games; he will report to FoxNext President Salil Mehta. Loeb will be responsible for overseeing Fox's first-party game development and he will be joined by leadership that includes COO Yoko Nakao, Vice President and General Manager Amir Rahimi and Head of Marketing Jordan Edelstein.

"Aftershock brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and in Aaron Loeb and his team, a remarkably talented and passionate group of game developers that will immediately position FoxNext for success within the video gaming industry," said Mehta. "The studio has an exceptional pipeline of high-quality games in development, and we look forward to bringing a new level of entertainment to players around the world."

Aftershock has studios both in Los Angeles and San Francisco and the developer will look to leverage Fox film and TV properties like James Cameron's Avatar, which is being built as a massively multiplayer mobile strategy game in partnership with Lightstorm Entertainment. FoxNext said that Aftershock "has a number of projects in development that will showcase the studio's strength in creating interactive experiences for the biggest entertainment brands." FoxNext is also looking into virtual and augmented reality experiences, so it would not be surprising to see Aftershock contribute to those projects as well.