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Core-targeted social game developer Kabam (Dragons of Atlantis) has acquired Gravity Bear, the Emeryville, CA-based company established by Flagship Studios co-founder Phil Shenk.

Eric Caoili, Blogger

March 29, 2012

1 Min Read

Core-targeted social game developer Kabam (Dragons of Atlantis) has acquired Gravity Bear, the Emeryville, CA-based company established by Flagship Studios co-founder Phil Shenk. Terms for the purchase were not disclosed. With this deal, Kabam will now take over a team that has experience developing 3D social games (its previous releases were all 2D), as Gravity Bear previously worked on Battle Punks, an action-based MMO that launched in 2010 but is no longer available on Facebook. Redwood City, CA-headquartered Kabam says absorbing Gravity Bear will expand its traditional strength in strategy titles to a broader range of core free-to-play gamers. They're already working together on a new 3D-accelerated social game set in the Battle Punks universe. Gravity Bear began working on the new game more than a year ago -- presumably not long after it took the original Battle Punks offline. The game is built on Adobe's 3D Stage technology, and will not require any plug-ins beyond Flash to play. Shenk founded Gravity Bear in late 2008, after working at Flagship Studios (Hellgate: London) as an art director. Before that, he held key art positions at Blizzard North and Maxis. He will continue to lead the Gravity Bear team under Kabam.

About the Author(s)

Eric Caoili

Blogger

Eric Caoili currently serves as a news editor for Gamasutra, and has helmed numerous other UBM Techweb Game Network sites all now long-dead, including GameSetWatch. He is also co-editor for beloved handheld gaming blog Tiny Cartridge, and has contributed to Joystiq, Winamp, GamePro, and 4 Color Rebellion.

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