Chinese Firm UltiZen Buys Red Entertainment

Chinese online game firm UltiZen announced its acquisition of Tokyo-based developer Red Entertainment (Sakura Wars series), which will now work on smartphone and online games with its new parent company. Originally founded in 1984 as Red Company, the Japanese studio is best known for its work on the Sakura Wars and Far East of Eden RPG series spanning a number of consoles in the past two decades. Its more recent works include the Record of Agarest War games and Nostalgia for Nintendo DS. Red Entertainment will now co-develop PC online games and smartphone titles with UltiZen -- they already have five projects in production for 2011. UltiZen says Red Entertainment will also continue to create new IPs and take advantage of the parent company's game creation capabilities. The Chinese development and outsourcing company, which runs local web game platform U-Pal, currently has around 400 employees and three other studios in Shanghai, Beijing, and Suzhou. Financial terms for the acquisition were not disclosed. "The future of our industry depends on our ability to create new game ideas that captivate our users and to extend those brands to other platforms such as smart phones," says Ultizen CEO Haiwen Lan. "The acquisition of Red falls directly into the strategy." Lan adds, "The exceptional quality of the team at Red and the game development expertise of our UltiZen teams will allow us to create the best game titles in the entertainment industry. This alliance is a true first for China's game industry. UltiZen and Red share the same vision of entertainment convergence and a common passion for innovation and creativity."