Big Fish Games will add the advertisement and subscription supported products from the portal, which offers free games, chat, lotteries and prizes, to its current downloadable games sales business.
The move comes as industry observers are predicting an increase in the casual game market to over $760m by 2007. Big Fish Games itself recently announced a 400% increase in sales over the 2004 period.
Big Fish Games’ acquisition of Ion Thunder is a smart move, said Andrew Wright, CEO of Muskoka Media. It brings together a leading downloadable games destination with an undiscovered but compelling community gaming destination and firmly positions Big Fish Games as a significant player in the broader casual games market.
Ion Thunder will be integrated into the Big Fish Games’ network under the brand Atlantis Games.
