Activision has taken a step forward to enhance and expand their online gaming capabilities through the acquisition of Ireland-based DemonWare. This company is well known in the industry for providing middleware network solutions to PCs and console games. Activision has been using their technology on its games since 2005.
"In the next two-to-four years, we expect that online gaming will grow significantly as a result of a more seamless plug and play experience provided by the next-generation consoles," states Mike Griffith, CEO of Activision Publishing. "The acquisition of DemonWare will enable us to eliminate many of the challenges associated with online multiplayer game development, reducing development time and risk, and allowing us to deliver consistent, high-quality online gaming experiences. In addition to increasing our talent pool of highly skilled engineers, DemonWare's suite of technologies combined with Activision own library of tools and technologies will enable us to easily share online development capabilities on multiple platforms."
DemonWare will become a wholly owned Activision subsidiary and "key" employees will keep their jobs. Like any acquisition of this nature it's subject to revision from regulatory entities, but they hope to close the deal by the first quarter of 2008.