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The 36-strong team and its two offices in London and Manchester now join the SCi/Eidos fold which includes Crystal Dynamics, Beautiful Game Studios and IO Interactive.
Acquiring the studio means the publisher gains a foothold in the fast-growing casual games sector and also takes ownership of Rockpool’s sister companies Ironstone Partners and SoGoPlay, which gives the firm access to, respectively, the Top Trumps licence and a casual games publishing portal.
A week ago the company announced that it would open a new next-gen games studio in Canada’s Montreal.
"The global market for mobile games is set to grow considerably over the next few years," commented Jane Cavanagh, CEO of SCi, citing Juniper Research that says the sector will grow from $3bn in 2006 to $10bn in 2009.
She added: "Rockpool’s breadth of activity, including not only mobile games but casual PC games, fits well with SCi’s strategy to expand the company’s business in this direction and will strengthen our position in these consistently growing markets."
Rockpool brings us a rich pool of talent along with a proven ability to deliver high-quality projects. In addition to their continued work on external projects, we look forward to bringing their experience and creativity to bear on some of our own titles over the coming months," added Simon Protheroe, director of Eidos’ New Media and IT division, which Rockpool will be integrated into.
Rockpool MD Paul Gouge commented: "Being part of the SCi family means that we can accelerate our growth and build on the great achievements we have already made in the mobile, casual and wider games market."
