Ngmoco picks up $25 million in funding, buys Freeverse
TechCrunch is reporting that iPhone game company Ngmoco has just picked up $25 million in another round of fundraising, which they used to buy out Freeverse, one of the most storied Mac game developers (and recently, iPhone game developers) on the block. The two companies were already close -- Freeverse went with Ngmoco's Plus+ network for social connections in its games, including Flick Fishing and Moto Thunder -- but this buyout would put Ngmoco in charge of their whole catalog. Ngmoco CEO Neil Young says that he plans to take all of Freeverse's currently paid games and convert them all into the free-to-play model that Ngmoco has grown so comfortable with.
It's a pretty bold move -- Ngmoco is seriously investing in this model (even to the extent where they'll cancel planned games unless they can squeeze them into the model), and now Freeverse will have to follow suit. There's no word on what will happen to Freeverse's significant Mac game library as well -- will that part of the company be split off? Will Ngmoco shut it all down and choose to focus on iPhone apps?
Unfortunately, the only available information is the post on TechCrunch. We've put out calls to both developers and will get back to you when we know more.
Update: Touch Arcade has interviewed Young. He doesn't mention Freeverse's Mac titles, but he does confirm that "freemium" is the way they're going to steer all of Freeverse's titles in the future.
