LOS ANGELES: Vivendi Games announced it is acquiring Santiago, Chile-based Wanako Games. Financial terms of the deal, which was so far kept under wraps, have not been disclosed.
Wanako will be part of Sierra Online division of Vivendi Games, which plans to enhance its internal product development capabilities high growth online games space. Wanako is the largest game development studio in Latin America and develops games for Xbox 360, Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, DS and GameCube and desktop systems.
Sierra Online had earlier teamed up with Wanako to develop the action-packed Arcade title for the Xbox Live, Assault Heroes, which was released in December 2006.
Sierra Online president Ed Zobrist said Wanako has an extensive offering of valuable tools and technologies that can be leveraged across all of Sierra Online's development studios. The combination of Wanako's development experience, creativity and technical capabilities will contribute greatly to Sierra Online's presence as a leading publisher of console download online games, he added.
Wanako Games' founder and former chief executive officer Esteban Sosnik will become the head of Sierra Online Latin America and will have a major role in the business initiatives of the group in the region.
According to gaming industry sources, Wanako is developing several of Sierra Online's new titles.
