Zynga continues mid-core mobile push with Battlestone

While Zynga has been seeing some success with new casual games like FarmVille 2, the company is increasingly placing its focus on mobile, and specifically on the mid-core market. The company today announced its newest effort, coming from November Software. The developer, acquired in Spring 2012, has been working on a mid-core mobile game called Battlestone.

It was initially revealed as a prototype called Golden Arrow. November Software's Szymon Swistun commented, "In January 2011, we formed November Software to bring console gaming experiences to mobile by using our expertise from working at LucasArts on games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 1 and 2. The first step we took towards this goal was to build our own cross-platform 3D engine from the ground up. We focused on delivering high-quality 60 fps capability on mobile, fast workflows, and on-demand content streaming. After we created our homegrown tech, we went through several game concepts before rallying around a new take on action combat for mobile, code-named (at the time) Golden Arrow."

When November Software joined Zynga, the developer realized it "could accelerate game development by combining our team's expertise building blockbuster console games and Zynga's strength in building social games on a massive scale."

Battlestone follows other mid-core efforts from Zynga like Horn. The company has been ramping up for more mid-core titles with the acquisition of A Bit Lucky, and the hiring of John Tobias, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series, who joins Mark Turmell in the Zynga San Diego studio as Creative Director. A Zynga spokesperson also stressed that on Zynga.com more than half of the third party games available fall into the mid-core category.