alarm:clock

Games - Thursday, December 8, 2005

EA to Acquire JAMDAT Mobile for $680M - The a:c Eats Crow

Today came word that the biggest gaming company - EA - bought the biggest mobile gaming company - Jamdat - for a cool $680M. Some might see this as game over for other mobile gaming companies, but we think it's further evidence that the good times are just starting to roll in mobile gaming. We'll keep our eyes on:
- Sorrent
- Cybird/Airborne Entertainment
- Gameloft
- Wirejack
- Mforma

This buyout forced us to look into the a:c archives and eat crow. In September 2004, we posted Jamdat To IPO Way Too Soon. Our post noted: Nice market - cell phone games - nice company. But what's the frickin' rush guys? Not only is the IPO market freezing, but enthusiasm for gaming stocks is worse - call Acclaim and ask them. Companies that require more Brinks trucks can overcome the environment, but Jamdat isn't there yet. According to their prospectus: "Since commencing operations in March 2000, our revenues have grown to $13.5M for the year ended December 31, 2003, and $7M for the three months ended March 31, 2004. We had a net loss of $7.1M for the year ended December 31, 2003. There are no peanuts in this Cracker-Jack box. "

Jamdat was first funded only five years ago and raised just $33M. So it's a Barry Bonds-on-roids type of homer for everyone involved, except for the a:c which got it wrong.

Read - EA to Acquire JAMDAT Mobile (Yahoo)