With its closest competitors acquiring companies left and right, Zynga has taken the fight for social gaming dominance to a new battleground: Asia. The company today confirmed that it has acquired Beijing-based social gaming startup XPD Media.
With its closest competitors acquiring companies left and right, Zynga has taken the fight for social gaming dominance to a new battleground: Asia. The company today confirmed that it has acquired Beijing-based social gaming startup XPD Media.
“As the largest Internet market in the world, China is at the vanguard for virtual goods based gaming innovation,” said Robert Goldberg, VP of Corporate Development. “We expect our new office in Beijing and the incredible talent in the local market to play a strategic role in our mission to create the best social gaming experiences worldwide.”
XPD Media’s CEO, Robin Chan, will become Zynga’s GM of Asian business operations. Co-Founder Andy Tian will lead the Zynga Beijing studio. The XPD team of 40 employees will be immediately integrated into Zynga’s global workforce and focus on engineering and product development.
XPD Media, backed by True Ventures and Pilot Group, launched in early 2008 focusing on social game development for Asian and international social networks.
As TechCrunch reports, XPD Media is Zynga’s fourth acquisition in two years (the company also bought YoVille, Serious Business, and My Mini Life), and its first foray into the Asian market.
The exact terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
