Most expensive social videogame developer acquisition

The Walt Disney Company made a clear statement of intent as regards social gaming when it purchased developer Playdom for $563 million (£350 million) in July 2010. The sum represented the highest sum paid for a social network developer to date. This dwarfed EA’s $275-million (£171-million) acquisition of rival firm Playfish in November 2009. Playdom’s games, such as Gardens of Time (left) and Mobsters, “only” boasted 38 million monthly players at the time of the sale, compared with 60 million for Playfish, creators of Pet Society.