Casual Portal/Developer Reflexive Acquired By Amazon

PC casual game distributor and developer Reflexive has been acquired by Internet retail giant Amazon.com for an unspecified amount of money -- and the company's CEO hints at "a huge new group of customers" for casual games available via Amazon in the future. In an announcement made on the company's official weblog, Reflexive CEO Lars Brubaker reveals: "Reflexive Entertainment Inc. has been acquired by Amazon.com! As I'm sure you can all imagine this is a very exciting day for us at Reflexive. It means we'll be able to expand our distribution network to include Amazon's amazing distribution channel. With Amazon we will bring a huge new group of customers into play. "At Reflexive we have always prided ourselves on maintaining good relationships with everyone in the industry, and are excited that Amazon shares that philosophy. "We intend to provide the best distribution platform anywhere, and to continue working openly with all the participants of the casual games space. Together it is our priority to continue this inclusive attitude going forward." While retail giant Amazon.com, which has 17,000 employees and $17 billion in annual revenue, started off by retailing physical merchandise via the Internet, it's increasingly moving into digital retail sectors, like with the Amazon MP3 store and digital books sold via its Kindle e-book reader. Reflexive has also developed a number of game titles in the past, including IGF award-winner and Xbox Live Arcade title Wik & The Fable Of Souls, and the popular Ricochet series. However, it seems that the distribution end of Reflexive's business was what prompted Amazon's acquisition; the company sells PC casual games through its own site and a multitude of affiliates.