Big Fish Games Acquires Casual Developer FunPause

Big Fish Games, a website portal for casual games, has acquired casual game developer FunPause. The French developer, responsible for Atlantis and Fairies, has had several best-selling games distributed on Yahoo! Games, MSN, AOL, Shockwave.com, and EA's Pogo service. Though the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the funding was undoubtedly provided by Big Fish's $5 million round of financing on December 3rd, 2005. The acquisition gives Big Fish control of FunPause's portfolio of titles, which includes 20 downloadable games and 55 online games. The FunPause staff will remain in Montpelier, France, but join a branch of Big Fish games there rather than continue in their current offices, according to the official announcement. "We are excited to be a part of the fastest growing casual game site in the world," said FunPause CEO Emmanuel Marty. "We are being given the liberty to maintain our creative freedom to produce award winning games, while benefiting from the years of experience and success that Big Fish Games brings to this market."