Playdom swoops up Merscom Games

Social gaming giant makes yet another acquisition to continue its expansion

Social gaming giant, Playdom, announced on Monday it has acquired Merscom.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Playdom said it would bring aboard the entire North Carolina-based Merscom team which consisted of over 20 employees.  

For the past 16 years, Merscom has been producing games for third parties.  Right now, the company is specializing on social and online games.  It's worked with nationally recognized brands including Sea World, Purina, National Geographic, Lifetime, Paramount, Starz Entertainment and NBC Universal.  It's produced over 250 games and over 30 casual games.  

Recently, it launched its first internally developed social game called "The Crazies," which was released in conjunction with the sci-fi/horror movie.  

Playdom is a pretty big player in the social gaming space.  It's one of the top game developers on Facebook and MySpace with titles like Social City, Sorority Life and Mobsters seeing a total of over 100 installs.  It's also been on a bit of an acquisition spree.  Last month, the company acquired Offbeat Creations, a Washington-based game developer.  

It's main competitor, Zynga also has been making some acquisitions: most recently it acquired Serious Business for an undisclosed amount as well.

John Pleasants, Playdom's CEO commented in a release, "We believe that brands matter and that over time, as the social gaming industry matures, games which incorporate content from popular culture and widely respected brands will garner larger market share than those without it."

With $43 million in venture capital sitting in Playdom's pocket, we'll be sure to see more deals like this in the near future.