日前，Facebook游戏开发商Zynga宣布，收购位于美国德克萨斯州达拉斯市的Bonfire Studios公司，认为该公司丰富的人才有助于为Zynga创造“原版知识产权”（original IP）。Bonfire的前身是微软旗下的游戏开发工作室Ensemble Studios，代表作是赫赫有名的个人电脑和Xbox360游戏《帝国时代》（Age of Empires）、《星环战役》（Halo Wars）。

Bonfire Studios-logo

Zynga这一收购新动作不禁让人浮想联翩，好奇该公司是否有意向掌机游戏进军，但如果从Bonfire的发展历程来看，事实并非如此。自微软关闭Ensemble Studios后，该公司随即于去年2月以Bonfire的面目复出，创始人大卫·瑞皮（David Rippy），比尔·杰克逊（Bill Jackson），斯科特·温西特（Scott Winsett）为其设定的运营方向与之前截然不同：Bonfire主要开发iPhone和iPad游戏。在今年7月，Bonfire与发行商Ngmoco共同推出了《We Farm》这一款实际上相当于《FarmVille》iPhone版的手机游戏。《We Farm》这款免费游戏成绩斐然，发行仅一个月就跻身iPad应用排行榜的前十名，其营收主要来自游戏内置虚拟商品交易。

We Farm

事实上，Zynga公司自己已开发了《FarmVille》的iPhone版本，但并不如Facebook版本叫座。因此有人猜测，也许Zynga正是想通过收购Bonfire，突破手机游戏开发领域的瓶颈。

据悉，Zynga将把Bonfire更名为Zynga Dallas，原Bonfire的三名创始人将分别担任新公司的总经理、创意总监和高级艺术指导，目前尚未公布该收购协议的成交金额。

Zynga公司从今年初起就掀起了一阵收购狂潮，不仅仅是针对北美，世界其他地区也概莫能外。2010年Zynga公司的收购名单上包括北京XPD传媒公司（XPD Media），东京Unoh公司，奥斯汀Challenge游戏公司，剑桥Conduit Labs公司；最近还与日本电信软银（Softbank）成立了合资企业Zynga Japan。

颇为耐人寻味的是，在这项收购声明公布的前一天，Zynga才刚刚从雅虎挖走大卫·高（David Ko），任命高为Zynga公司的移动运营高级副总裁，领导其全球移动业务的发展战略。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译）

FarmVille-Maker Zynga Acquires iPhone Developer Behind Mobile FarmVille Clone

Facebook games developer Zynga said it had acquired the Dallas, Texas-based Bonfire Studios on Tuesday. Zynga noted Bonfire’s wealth of talent to help it create “original IP”. In a previous incarnation, Bonfire was a Microsoft Game Studios company called Ensemble Studios that created hits for the PC and Xbox 360 like Age of Empires and Halo Wars.

Naturally, this leads one to ask whether Zynga is interested in getting into console games. But a look at Bonfire’s history reveals that if anything, this is a smartphone play. Bonfire was founded last year in February, shortly after Microsoft shut down Ensemble, by former members of the Ensemble team.

But from the start, founders David Rippy, Bill Jackson and Scott Winsett took the new Bonfire is a very different direction: iPhone and iPad games. In July this year, the company developed the game We Farm, along with publisher ngmoco, which is essentially a version of FarmVille for the iPhone. We Farm has had some success already. A month after its release, the free-to-play app ranked in the Top 10 of the top-grossing iPad apps. Its revenues come from the in-app purchases of virtual goods.

Zynga already has a FarmVille app for the iPhone, but it hasn’t seen even close to the same level of success on the phone as it has on Facebook. The company may want to boost its mobile development through this acquisition.

Zynga will rename Bonfire as Zynga Dallas. Bonfire’s founders Rippy, Jackson and Winsett will become the general manager, creative director and senior art director,respectively of Zynga Dallas. The company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

The company has been on a buying spree since the beginning of this year, aggressively expanding not only in North America, but worldwide as well. A list of Zynga’s purchases in 2010 include XPD Media in Beijing, Unoh in Tokyo, Challenge Games in Austin and Conduit Labs in Cambridge. It also recently established Zynga Japan as a joint venture with Japanese telecom Softbank.

The announcement also comes a day after Zynga stole David Ko from Yahoo, appointing Ko as its senior vice president of mobile operations to lead global development.（source:forbes）