Glu Mobile to acquire Diner Dash developer PlayFirst

Newsbrief: Today, alongside its first quarter results, Glu Mobile announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase San Francisco-based casual developer PlayFirst, best known for Diner Dash and its spinoffs, including Cooking Dash and Wedding Dash. PlayFirst has struggled in the transition from casual portal to social and mobile games. Late last year, it hired industry veteran Tom Hall (Anachronox) as creative director in a bid to revitalize the company's game lineup. In a statement, Glu CEO Niccolo de Masi said, "Over the past 10 years the Dash franchise has been installed 750 million times on all platforms and we believe it is primed for reinvigoration with fully free-to-play releases." Glu's first quarter earnings grew strongly year-on-year, with revenue of $44.6 million as compared to $24.6 million for the same period last year. Net income was $0.1 million for the first quarter of 2014; the company lost $5.5 million in the same period last year.