Zynga Buys Bonfire Studios, Creating Its Sixth US Studio
Following up a string of social and mobile game developer acquisitions, Zynga has branched out in Dallas, Texas by buying Bonfire Studios, which is run by developers best known for their PC and console gaming work.
Bonfire won’t be a recognizable name to most social game companies. The studio was one of two that emerged in early 2009 from the collapse of Ensemble Studios, a Microsoft subsidiary that created the Age of Empires and Age of Mythologies series, as well as the Halo real-time strategy spinoff Halo Wars.
Unlike its sibling Robot Entertainment, which is continuing work on Microsoft’s RTS titles, Bonfire’s name hasn’t been attached to any new games since it was founded. The company has reportedly been doing third-party work on multiple platforms.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t leave much to say about Zynga’s buyout of the group, other than that the social gaming giant has picked up a few more high-profile names from the core gaming world to join Brian Reynolds, the famed designer of Civilization II and Alpha Centauri who now heads up Zynga’s Baltimore studio and work on FrontierVille.
David Rippy, the CEO of Bonfire and former lead producer of Age of Empires 3, will become the general manager of Zynga Dallas. Two more Bonfire co-founders, Bill Jackson and Scott Winsett, will become creative director and senior art director at the new studio, essentially holding onto their previous roles.
With Zynga Dallas, there are now six Zynga studios across the United States. Many of those come from acquisitions made this year. Here’s a quick recap of Zynga’s buys this year, including its international acquisitions:
October 5th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
The only title to its name so far is the iOS social farming game We Farm, developed in cooperation with We Rule and Godfinger (godfinger)’s ngmoco.
What will happen now with the We Farm??
October 6th, 2010 at 1:23 am
[...] огнем Дорогая компания Zynga объявила об очередном поглощении разработчика поменьше. На [...]
October 6th, 2010 at 11:34 am
LOL
Looks like the Russians are going to steal it.
Bout time someone stuck a fork up Zyngas )))
October 14th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
[...] Rippy — As part of the Bonfire Studios acquisition, Bonfire’s former President, David Rippy becomes a new General Manager for [...]
October 16th, 2010 at 10:11 am
[...] by Zynga notes that the company paid at least $6.3 million for Bonfire Studios; the developer acquired by the company earlier this [...]
October 21st, 2010 at 11:21 pm
[...] Zynga has an ace up its sleeve: earlier this month, it acquired Bonfire Studios, the company that actually developed We Farm. As we noted afterward, Zynga looks like it’s [...]
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:48 pm
[...] months ago in October, Zynga acquired Bonfire Studios, which worked on We Farm, a We Rule sequel. With the two acquired developers in hand, Zynga now has [...]
December 16th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
[...] Phil Wohr — Now a concept artist for Zynga, Whor was previously filling the same role under the recently acquired Bonfire Studios. [...]
May 22nd, 2011 at 11:44 am
Spell the last name correct please! It is W O H R. Thank you. In the second sentence its misspelled Whor……ooooo that could be a bad deal….. Sooo for the record; please correct the last name in that second sentence on this site.
If the work and creativity of Phil Wohr is regarded as highly as it appears to be mentioned- then so should Phil’s name.
Your attention , time ANDmost importantly- Consideration in this matter is apprecciated! WOHR.
Sincerely,
The big sister.
May 22nd, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Traced back to source & corrected. Cheers.
May 24th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Awesome! Your time and quick fix greatly appreciated. Thanks. I’m sure my baby bro thanks you too.
Thanks AJ
Sincerely
big sis
November 3rd, 2011 at 8:01 pm
[...] Zynga is on the verge of launching CastleVille, its latest life simulation game for Facebook and the first title from the Zynga Dallas studio formed in 2010. [...]