Ravenwood Fair developer LolApps to merge with 6waves

RavenWood fair developer LolApps has announced a merger with Korean publisher 6waves.

In a conversation with GamesIndustry.biz last week, LolApps CEO Arjun Sethi and 6Waves CEO Rex Ng explained that the deal was a "big strategic move" for both companies.

"We have very complementary skill sets, and share the same vision of delivering very high quality games for the social gaming audience," said Ng.

"Our alignment, of where we're going in the longer term, is pretty much the same," Sethi added. "We've gone through the same struggles on Facebook, and we've evolved together."

We've gone through the same struggles on Facebook, and we've evolved together

Arjun Sethi, 6waves LolApps

"Even though we're different companies, that initial alignment meant that our thought processes on how we look at data, how we iterate very quickly, have always been [the same]. They use those core strengths for publishing. We use those core strengths for developing games."

6waves will gain access to LolApps popular Raven World IP and its recently acquired Fliso engine, while LolApps' products will benefit from 6waves' presence on social networks in China and Japan.

The deal would have put the new company in "clear second place" behind Zynga with more than 35 million MAUs. However, EA's recent acquisition of PopCap increased its MAUs to almost 50 million, leaving 6waves and LolApps in third.

However, despite the increased presence of major publishers like EA and Disney in the social market, Sethi insists that the merger isn't a defensive move.

"I wouldn't look at [consolidation] as necessary. As independent companies we're both doing very well. We're both on growth mode, but it seemed like a much better idea to speed up our efforts, and the merger allows us to execute on that even faster," he said. " It's more an exciting venture than, 'Hey, we need to do this.'"

"Larger companies have one weakness moving forward: they still see the space in terms of bringing their own brands into the space, but what they're missing is that brands are being built in the space, as they have been historically on any patform."

"From the games that we're building, our Raven World stragey, we're pretty far ahead of anyone else out there. We're building an asynchronous world, where you can move between applications, create your character, taking your economy wherever you go. Nobody is doing that, not even Zynga."

Rex Ng will be the new CEO of 6waves LolApps, with Arjun Sethi reporting to him. The company has offices in the US, Japan, Hong Kong and the UK.