Social gaming giant Zynga has completed its previously announced acquisition of mobile games developer StarLark from Betta Games for $525m in cash and stock.
The acquisition agreement will see staff from China-based StarLark, the company behind mobile golf title Golf Rival, join the Zynga development team.
StarLark will continue to be led by founder and general manager Henry You and its current management team.
“We could not be more pleased to welcome StarLark’s extraordinarily accomplished team to Zynga,” Zynga chief executive Frank Gibeau said. “StarLark and Zynga share a common vision – to bring people together through games.
“With Golf Rival, we are expanding Zynga’s portfolio with a new hit franchise and are establishing a developer presence in China, a country with unparalleled technical and creative talent. As a combined team, we are well positioned to grow faster together.”
StarLark’s You added: “StarLark shares a common passion with Zynga for uniting mobile gamers from anywhere in the world. By partnering with Zynga, we will have access to the company’s extensive global resources and expertise, while continuing to develop new and exciting content for players.
“We are thrilled to embark on the next chapter of our journey with Zynga, a global leader in mobile gaming.”
The deal comes after Zynga in August announced the acquisition of Chartboost for a total purchase price of approximately $250.0m. It had agreed the purchase in May.