The mobile gaming field continued to shrink this week as California-based start-up Kayak Interactive announced it is joining forces with Swedish publisher Synergenix Interactive.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Kayak launched early last year as a mobile connected gaming services provider. The company has since morphed into a publisher with a handful of simple connected games including chess, backgammon and pinball titles.
Synergenix, on the other hand, develops and distributes more traditional mobile games, including first-person shooters and sports-related offerings. Synergenix will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the new company, which will retain the Kayak name.
“The two companies are very complementary in a couple of different ways,” said Keith McCurdy, Kayak’s chief executive officer who will remain at the helm of the new company. “Together we have a worldwide distribution footprint.”
While more established players like Mforma and Jamdat continue to snap up smaller developers and publishers around the world, Thursday’s announcement marks the first major partnership for Kayak. McCurdy said Kayak will continue to focus on connected and community-based games that are unique to the mobile platform.
“The bottom line is, we believe that the future of mobile entertainment is connected,” said McCurdy. “In a few years, people will stop thinking about it. All games will have a connected component to them, but consumers won’t even notice. They’ll just take it for granted.”
