Big Fish Games Acquires #1 Mobile-Social Casino Platform and Developer, Self Aware Games

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Big Fish Games Inc. today announced the acquisition of mobile-social game developer Self Aware Games and its parent company, Social Concepts, makers of the hit mobile-social brand, Card Ace: Casino. Self Aware Games was founded by experienced entrepreneur Colin Liotta and lifelong game designer Seppo Helava, and currently employs 25 people in Oakland, California. Self Aware Games will remain in Oakland and establishes Big Fish’s first Bay Area office. In addition to Card Ace: Casino, Self Aware Games is pioneering a new location-based mobile MMO game platform, with an initial iPad title that is currently in beta – Fleck Touch.

“We are delighted to integrate one of the most talented mobile-social game development teams into Big Fish, and to extend our mainstream consumer reach to include the booming market of casino games”

The acquisition of Self Aware Games provides Big Fish with a leading presence in the explosively growing market of free-to-play, virtual item games. The Self Aware Games’ team brings to Big Fish significant design and development expertise in mobile-social games, an extensible virtual goods technology platform and an established beachhead of evergreen mobile-social brands that can now leverage the numerous platforms where Big Fish distributes games. Self Aware Games will immediately benefit from Big Fish’s established, robust analytics infrastructure, distribution and marketing network.

“We are delighted to integrate one of the most talented mobile-social game development teams into Big Fish, and to extend our mainstream consumer reach to include the booming market of casino games,” said Paul Thelen, founder and chief strategy officer of Big Fish Games. “We look forward to delighting the enormous audience on Facebook with the Card Ace: Casino experience.”

“We are incredibly excited to be a part of the Big Fish culture and team,” said Colin Liotta, co-founder and lead technologist of Self Aware Games. “Big Fish has everything we were looking for in a partner – an outstanding positive corporate culture, extensive analytics infrastructure, and an established 10-year track record of building trusted and enduring relationships with hundreds of developers all over the world.”

“They really ‘got it’ with respect to our vision here at Self Aware,” said Seppo Helava, co-founder and lead designer of Self Aware Games. “They are the perfect partner to supercharge our growth across all platforms.”

Separately, today Big Fish announced 2011 year-over-year organic growth of 30%, marking its ninth consecutive year of record revenue stemming from robust digital sales of its largely proprietary 2500 game catalog across PC, Mac, Smartphone and tablet platforms.

Card Ace: Casino is currently available on iPhone, iPad and Android. Self Aware Games will be launching an HTML5 version in Q2 that will expand the current offering to all other mobile platforms, as well as Facebook and other social networks. Fleck Touch is currently in beta on iPad, iPhone, and on the web at www.fleck.com.

About Big Fish Games

Founded in 2002, Big Fish is the leading online marketplace for premium casual games. Through its proprietary, data driven platform, millions of consumers seeking immersive, relaxing entertainment easily discover and purchase premium casual games created by Big Fish’s network of more than 500 development partners and in-house by Big Fish Games Studios. Renowned for offering A New Game Every Day!® on www.bigfishgames.com, the company offers thousands of games on multiple platforms -- PC, Mac, mobile phone, and tablet. Big Fish’s websites, games, and customer service are available in ten languages – Danish, Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish – and its games are sold in more than 150 countries. The company is headquartered in Seattle, WA, with regional offices in Oakland, CA; Vancouver, Canada; Cork, Ireland; and Luxembourg.

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