Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the merger of its two leading Australian studios engaged in projects for mobile platforms, Iron Monkey and Firemint. Now the companies will work under the general brand of FireMonkeys.
The purpose of the merger is to consolidate capacities. It is planned that the studios will continue to release triple-A projects for mobile platforms in the new format. Moreover, it is quite possible that their new games will appear on macOS and PC.
According to Tony Lay, CEO of the newly minted FireMonkeys, the merger of studios will allow combining successful experience, as well as technologies and resources of teams to develop new high-class projects.
By the way, Iron Monkey and Firemint had something to brag about separately. The first one is well known for mobile versions of such products as Dead Space, Mass Effect, Need for Speed and many, many others. As for Firemint, it is, first of all, popular with the Real Racing series. If we talk about studios in general, they can boast a total audience of more than 50 million players.
Consolidation of studios will inevitably lead to even greater consolidation of EA’s leadership positions in the mobile market.