When not making and publishing AAA video games for PC and consoles and financing movie adaptations of its popular IPs, Ubisoft is also trying their hand in the mobile games business. While the company already released some Play Store hits such as Rayman Jungle Run, Rayman Fiesta Run, and Assassin’s Creed Pirates, its presence in this branch of the gaming industry could still improve as mobile games are pretty much the safest possible bet for a large video game company. They don’t cost a lot to develop in comparison to console titles and can potentially significantly outperform them both in terms of install base and pure profits.
That’s why any game publisher worth its salt is constantly investing in the mobile market today and Ubisoft is no different. Today, the company announced its upcoming acquisition of Ketchapp, a Parisian mobile game developer responsible for titles like 2048, Run Bird Run, The Pitt, and ZigZag. The purchase will be official as of January 1st and as things stand right now, Ubisoft won’t be interfering with the studio’s design process a lot. Namely, according to what the company’s mobile head Jean-Michel Detoc said while announcing the acquisition, Ubisoft is much more excited about Ketchapp’s platform for cross-promotion of apps which advertises new apps inside other apps in order to quickly get them off the ground and grow their install numbers. While not revolutionary, this particular system is currently responsible for over 20 million app downloads each month so it’s no wonder Ubisoft wants to get in on the action. As for how much that luxury cost the firm, the exact sum for which Ketchapp was acquired was undisclosed.
In any case, it’s to be expected that Ubisoft will be publishing a lot more free-to-play mobile games once the purchase of Ketchapp goes through next year. This is a significant step for the company which has so far mostly published premium mobile titles though there’s no reason to believe that this acquisition will put a stop to that. On the contrary, Ubisoft’s portfolio will likely be more diverse than ever come January as the publisher is continuing its search for new revenue streams while maintaining all of the old ones.