Video game companies have been keeping India on their radar from quite some time now. Video game publishers Ubisoft have sent word that they have gotten into a deal to acquire Gameloft’s video game development studio, which is based in Pune in western India.
Christine Burgess-Quémard, Executive Director, Worldwide Studios, Ubisoft said, “Following on the recent announcement of our new Singapore studio, this acquisition will reinforce Ubisoft’s presence in Asia and the southeast region in particular. India has a promising future in the videogame industry and this is an opportunity for us to establish ourselves in the country.”
Gameloft has a team of 120 developers and testers in the Pune Studio. It was established in 2006 and will now focus on porting titles to handheld consoles and strengthen Ubisoft’s testing teams. They aim to increase their strength to 200 developers in a year and eventually increase that number to 500. Ubisoft has said that the action is subject to normal closing conditions and is scheduled to be sealed during Q1 of the 2008-09 fiscal year.