Zynga Bets on HTML5 With Dextrose Acquisition
Zynga has announced its latest acquisition today, the German company Dextrose AG, which released a development platform called the Aves Engine earlier this year.
The news hasn’t been widely commented on yet, but this could turn out to be one of Zynga’s most important acqusitions. Aves is an HTML5 engine designed for high-end 2D and 2.5D graphics.
Since it’s in HTML5, Aves can run on both the web and on mobile devices browsers, like the iPhone’s Safari. More than just a potential tweak to Zynga’s Facebook games, the Dextrose buyout means Zynga could potentially develop a new game simultaneously for both web and mobile.
With FarmVille and its other apps on the iPhone, Zynga hasn’t done spectacularly well, but that’s probably in part due to the higher graphics expectations of mobile users. The Aves Engine hasn’t been widely used, so we’re not sure of its full capabilities. But Zynga probably wouldn’t have bought the company if it weren’t impressed by Aves’ graphical capabilities.
Here’s a video of Aves released by Dextrose for an April conference, and a more recent one from E3 2010 below it:
Like Zynga’s past acquisitions, Dextrose will take on a new name, Zynga Germany. Co-founders Paul Bakaus and Rocco Di Leo will become chief technology officer of Zynga Germany and country manager, respectively.
September 24th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
the article features the very first video of the Dextrose Aves Engine. There is a better one released during E3 2010 over at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmtQOB_KFzU
September 24th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Thanks Jack, adding that video in too.
September 25th, 2010 at 9:06 am
I am really interested in Aves engine and It seems to be an awesome framework.
Zynga did the acquisition of Aves engine framework. It was clever business decision.
This acquisition makes me worried for my project. Because I don’t know if Zynga will share the framework such as Dextrose planned.
September 26th, 2010 at 1:00 am
On german news sites it’s pretty much stated that the Aves Engine as a product disappears. So Zynga get everything exklusively i suppose.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Thanks Christoph, but bad news…
September 27th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
[...] объявила о покупке немецкой компании Dextrose, основным активом [...]
September 30th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
It is interesting timing, since Paul Bakaus is giving a lecture at Austin GDC next week to discuss the development of an opensource HTML5/Java Script game engine. Of course Zynga will be there, I sure hope this doesn’t mean he will “water down” his lecture, as it is about the only reason I am heading that way this year
October 1st, 2010 at 6:14 am
Don’t worry, there are a number of other projects out there doing the same thing and becoming quite mature. I am working on an engine called Isogenic and there is also a competing engine being developed called Rocket.
My engine is isometric, using html 5 and canvas, written entirely in javascript and can handle huge map sizes with millions of tiles and objects.
Not sure about rocket engines capabilities but you can find videos for both engines on youtube.
October 14th, 2010 at 11:01 am
[...] recent acquisition of HTML5 game engine developer Dextrose AG could be viewed, on the surface, as just another purchase in a slew of buys they’ve made this [...]
October 14th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Im still on the fence with HTML5. Truth is.. there has always been games made in Javascript for years. HTML5 isn’t much different and if you look at the progression graph betwen HTML5 and Flash. Flash definitely has been many many times more progressive.
Besides, in a year or 2 when their game launches, I would be that most mobile devices will be fully flash supported anyway.
December 1st, 2010 at 4:28 am
bart,
If you would have any knowledge of javascript, html or flash you would know what this was about. Pick up a book, or just Google a bit instead of wrighting a stupid post, that isn’t even remotely true.
in 5 years, Apple won’t accept users to play flash content.
and no one can say that html 5 is either a good or a bad thing. It’s loong until It’s finished.
December 7th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
[...] devices, considering iOS doesn’t run Flash. The social gaming giant Zynga also just recently announced acquisition of German HTML5 game engine provider Dextrose. Information by ArcticIndexRocket Pack – [...]
December 24th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
[...] Zynga Bets on HTML5 With Dextrose Acquisition [...]
February 1st, 2011 at 3:41 pm
[...] Cityville…), se está moviendo también para adoptar HTML5 para sus juegos futuros con la compra del Aves Engine de Dextrose. En el primer vídeo podéis ver una presentación del mismo, antes de que fuese comprada la [...]
March 5th, 2011 at 10:57 am
[...] hier erwähnen: Zynga (das Unternehmen hinter FarmVille) hat im September letzten Jahres die deutsche Firma Dextrose AG übernommen. Diese hat ebenfalls eine HTML5 Spieleengine entwickelt und kann somit ebenfalls auf iOS-Geräten [...]
May 11th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
[...] chance I came across another acquisition Zynga made in September 2010. They bought german startup Dextrose (at the time located less than 20 km from where I live) to get ahold of their Aves HTML5 engine and [...]
June 5th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
[...] Cityville…), se está moviendo también para adoptar HTML5 para sus juegos futuros con la compra del Aves Engine de Dextrose. En el primer vídeo podéis ver una presentación del mismo, antes de que fuese comprada la [...]
June 9th, 2011 at 2:47 am
[...] Wie in Köln haben schon ein wenig damit rumgespielt und ich bin sicher, die anderen Standorte auch. Wie auch immer, ich werde mich am Wochenende mal von Profis aufschlauen lassen und zwar auf dem nodecamp. Dort werde ich hoffentlich auch Paul Bakaus kennenlernen, der eine auf JavaScript und HTML5 basierende Game Engine geschrieben hatte. Zynga hat dann kurzerhand seine ganze Firma gekauft. [...]
June 30th, 2011 at 8:32 am
[...] Aves engine, a similar MMO engine with an isometric feel similar to Zynga’s FarmVille, was bought by Zynga last year.See: mightyfingers.com Tagged with: 2D • mightyfingers • mmo • [...]
November 9th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
[...] purely HTML5. There must be some of course so if you have any please post links. Zynga famously bought Dextrose back in 2010 for “HTML5 gaming on Facebook” but I’ve yet to see the results. Some [...]
December 18th, 2011 at 9:00 am
[...] international social game networks like Orkut or VK.net. The developer has made acquisitions in Europe, but hasn’t formally announced a regional office to oversee expansion in the [...]
May 14th, 2012 at 5:01 am
[...] •Придобиване на игрални двигатели HTML5 •Aves от Zynga •Ракетен двигател от [...]