Glu Mobile Acquires iFone

Mobile game publisher and developer Glu Mobile has announced that it has purchased UK-based mobile publisher iFone. The deal adds popular iFone titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Monopoly, and Lemmings to Glu's already substantial portfolio. Glu Mobile is already well known as being the distributor of such notable mobile titles as Zuma, Driver Vegas, and Diner Dash. The move, according to Glu's president and chief executive Greg Ballard, lifts Glu Mobile to being the number two mobile games company within the United States. Video game powerhouse Electronic Arts retains its hold on the top spot within the $2 billion mobile game market with its recent $684 million acquisition of Jamdat Mobile. This acquisition is just the latest example of consolidation of companies within of the mobile games industry, which many analysts predict as being necessary for the survival of companies such as Glu Mobile. "The (mobile phone) carriers want to deal with just a small handful of companies. You want to make sure you are one of them," commented Ballard.