Vivendi acquires top Latin American game studio

Vivendi Games on Tuesday announced its acquisition of Wanako Games, the largest game development studio in Latin America. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Vivendi's Sierra Online division previously teamed with Wanako to develop the Xbox Live arcade title Assault Heroes, released in December 2006 to critical acclaim. Wanako, based in Santiago, Chile, will now bring its artistic expertise to the upcoming Xbox Live arcade game 3-D Ultra Minigolf Adventures.

The acquisition, Vivendi said, underscores Sierra Online's commitment to enhancing its internal product development capabilities in the fast-growing console download online games space. "The combination of Wanako's development experience, creativity and technical capabilities will contribute greatly to our presence as a leading publisher of console downloadable online games," said Sierra Online President Ed Zobrist.