After bailing on mobile, Bigpoint gives the market another shot

Free-to-play game company Bigpoint is ready to try the mobile game market on for size once again, following a failed initial attempt. The privately held Hamburg, Germany company acquired French mobile game developer Little Worlds Studio, the studio behind the games Color Cross Online and Mana Crusher. Managing director Khaled Helioui confirmed the acquisition in a TechCrunch report. The move is notable because almost exactly two years ago, Bigpoint’s then-CEO Heiko Hubertz announced the company would be getting out of the mobile game business, and instead continue concentrating on desktop-centric online games. Hubertz cited challenges of a mobile market where it was very tough to generate revenues. But Helioui believes now is the right time for Bigpoint to try to re-enter the mobile game business. “We then felt much more comfortable addressing a new platform and started earlier this year the development of two mobile games in Hamburg,” Helioui told TechCrunch. “We have already recruited a number of mobile developers but still felt like we needed to start or acquire a studio whose sole focus would be on mobile,” he added. “Little Worlds filled all our criteria.” Helioui did not reveal the amount of the Little Worlds transaction.