Ubi Soft buys GAMEs

Having purchased German publisher Blue Byte (the company behind the popular Settlers and Battle Isle series) just a few weeks ago, French company Ubi Soft today confirmed that it is continuing its spending spree by buying GAME Studios (the recently renamed entertainment division of The Learning Company) from Gores Technology Group. Gores bought TLC from owner Mattel just last October, but have been focusing on its range of productivity and educational software. Gores revealed that they had received "a number of offers for the company's Entertainment Division" over the last few months, and that they had "identified the Entertainment Division as a non-core part of the company" early on.

And now we know who the winner was. In a short press release to control the growing rumours about a possible deal, Ubi Soft this morning confirmed that they are "preparing to close the acquisition by Ubi Soft of the entertainment division of The Learning Company". A full press release should follow once the deal is completed. Assuming that there are no last minute hitches though, this will add another impressive selection of games to Ubi Soft's already extensive line-up, including The Moon Project (a semi-sequel to 3D real-time strategy game Earth 2150), Pool Of Radiance : Ruins of Myth Drannor (a role-playing game based on the new Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rule set) and Myst III : Exile (the latest sequel to the biggest selling PC game of all time).