Mountain View, California — Barely days after acquiring Angstro, search engine giant Google Inc. continues its pattern of shopping spree by scooping up the social games start-up SocialDeck Inc., the latest in a series of acquisitions aimed at helping the Internet search titan build a social-networking service to compete with Facebook Inc.
Many of Google’s latest acquisitions have been associated to social networking and games, fueling a theory that the company plans to announce a new social-networking service, virtually centered on games, to compete with Facebook.
The Canadian start-up has unleashed several games titles for Facebook, as well as Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry devices. SocialDeck’s games platform technology enables simultaneous game play across multiple mobile devices and social networks. The letter says:
Big news! We are super excited to announce that someone found ou social games as fun as you have – in this case, that “someone” is Google. SocialDeck has been acquired and we’ve joined the Google team.
We started this company with the goal of connecting friends through social games on all kinds of exciting new mobile devices. We have been amazed and humbled by all of the stories and experiences ou customers (you!) have shared with us.
Thank you for all your support and for being a part of SocialDeck’s success so far…
The SocialDeck deal acquisitions is one of many during the past month through which Google anticipate to establish a social-networking service to counter Facebook, which recently topped more than 500 million users and is aggressively moving to develop its advertising business.
The search engine giant last week acquired Angstro, which develops apps to discover new photos on Facebook, and create a real-time social address book. In addition to that, earlier in the month it bought social widgets maker Slide Inc. in a deal that gave the search leader a team of developers with extensive social networking experience.
Financial details of the acquisition were not available. There was no immediate confirmation from Google of the purchase.
SocialDeck, which has operations in Toronto and San Francisco, was founded in 2008 and has developed a number of games including “Shake & Spell,” and “Pet Hero,” as well as a word game similar to Boggle. A person can open the game on Facebook, for example, and play against friends who are using iPhone and BlackBerry apps.
“We were very impressed with the team’s talent as well as the technically advanced platform engaging mobile experiences they have built,” Google said in a statement. The team will work in partnership with Google staff in Waterloo, Ontario, Google said.
“We are pleased to welcome them to Google, and we think they will be great contributors in partnership with the Google Waterloo team as we continue to innovate in the mobile space.”