GREE acquires Funzio for $210 million

Japanese mobile gaming firm GREE has acquired Crime City developer Funzio for $210 million (which is similar to the price Zynga paid for OMGPOP). The acquisition will improve GREE's ability to develop high-quality mobile titles aimed at core users.

"The team at Funzio is creating some of the best mobile games in the world today. This acquisition allows us to join their talent and expertise with our vision for a mobile social gaming ecosystem," said Naoki Aoyagi, Chief Executive Officer of GREE International. "We are extremely excited to expand our mid-core portfolio and continue to show how the mobile games market is the inevitable next step for gamers worldwide."

Funzio boasts 20 million downloads across its entire line-up of titles, including Crime City, Modern War, and Kingdom War. Funzio's officers will join GREE at its San Francisco development studio. CEO Ken Chiu and COO Anil Dharni will join GREE International as senior vice presidents, while CTO Ram Gudavalli and vice president of Engineering Andy Keidel will become vice presidents.

GREE purchased OpenFeint in April 2011 for $104 million, allowing the company to gain a foothold in North America. This was followed with the establishment of its 41,000 square foot San Francisco office. The company also recently invested in mobile developer IUGO and HTML5 developer Wizcorp.

"GREE shares our vision of a mobile world where people can play together wherever and whenever they are," said Ken Chiu, CEO and Founder of Funzio. "We feel strongly that our experience in creating unique games for the mid-core market and GREE's expertise in bringing the mobile games to the worldwide community is a perfect match."

GREE is still working on the launch of its GREE social mobile gaming platform, which is scheduled for release during this quarter.