Vivendi Acquires Wanako Games

Representatives from Vivendi Games have announced the acquisition of Santiago, Chile-based developer Wanako Games (Assault Heroes) with the intention of further developing its digitally distributed console games capabilities. Vivendi have said that the acquisition, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, "underscores the commitment" by its Sierra Online division to "enhance its internal product development capabilities in the fast growing console download online games space." Sierra Online originally partnered with Wanako, reported to be the largest development studio in Latin America, for the recently released action title Assault Heroes for Xbox Live Arcade, and will be doing so again for the recently announced 3-D Ultra Minigolf Adventures. Under the terms of the new acquisition, Sierra Online will continue to partner with Wanako in the future to help deliver the studio's "innovative, original concepts," with the studio already working on a number of currently unannounced Sierra Online titles. Wanako founder and former CEO Esteban Sosnik has been named as the new head of Sierra Online Latin America, taking on responsibilities for Sierra's Latin America business initiatives. Said Sierra Online president Ed Zobrist, "Wanako exudes the commitment to quality and a passion for developing great games that we ourselves strongly believe in. The studio 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 our presence as a leading publisher of console download online games." Added former Wanako CEO Sosnik, "We are very excited to join a visionary group like Sierra Online who is focused on bringing truly entertaining and innovative online games to a mass market. In working with Sierra Online on Assault Heroes it quickly became clear that our companies shared the same core values in game development and by joining together we could develop and deliver amazing products."