DeNa acquires Ngmoco for up to $400 million : Largest iPhone-related acquisition so far

Any developer or entrepreneur who has hesitated to go all in on Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iOS has 400 million reasons to think otherwise today. San Francisco-based Ngmoco, one of the early independent iPhone game makers, has been acquired by Japan’s DeNa Co. Ltd. for up to $400 million in cash and stock, according to VentureBeat.
Founded in 2008, around the time Apple opened up its platform to developers, this exit would be the largest iPhone-related acquisition so far and a major win for former Electronic Arts (ERTS) executive Neil Young, who founded the company.
The initial payout will come in the form of $300 million in cash and securities with an additional $100 million anchored to performance targets through the end of 2011. Ngmoco has been a standout hit on the iOS platform, with more than 20 top 10 games to date and more than 13.5 million registered users. The company also says its games are played more than 50 million minutes every day and have been downloaded more than 60 million times, VentureBeat reports. The company has said it plans to launch Android games by the end of 2010.
“In Ngmoco and its team we see a lot of the same talent and dynamic traction that we have in the Japanese market, making the merger a perfect fit for us,” said Tomoko Namba, founder and chief executive of DeNA. “This acquisition cements DeNA’s leadership position in the U.S. We’re building the largest mobile social gaming platform in the world and populating it with incredible games and services.”