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Wikipedia

Gameloft

Gameloft SE is a French video game publisher based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games with a special focus on the mobile games market. Formerly a public company traded at the Paris Bourse, Gameloft was acquired by media conglomerate Vivendi in 2016.

Gameloft SE
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded14 December 1999; 23 years ago (1999-12-14)
FounderMichel Guillemot
Headquarters,
France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Revenue258,000,000 euro (2017) 
Number of employees
3,600[1] (2021)
ParentVivendi (2016–present)
Websitegameloft.com

History

Game development strategy

Gameloft was founded by Michel Guillemot, one of the five founders of Ubisoft, on 14 December 1999.[2][3] By February 2009, Gameloft had shipped over 200 million copies of its games since its IPO,[4] as well as 2 million daily downloads of its games via the App Store for iOS.[5][6] Gameloft's chief financial officer (CFO), Alexandre de Rochefort, noted that the company's games generated about 400 times more revenue on iOS than on Android, partially because Google did not develop its Google Play storefront to "entice customers to actually buy products"; as a result of which Gameloft heavily cut its investments in Android games development in November 2009.[7][8] In July 2010, Gameloft instead attempted to sell Android games directly through its website, avoiding the use of Google Play.[9]

In a May 2011 keynote, de Rochefort stated that he wanted to avoid moving the company to the NASDAQ stock exchange, as the U.S. games market appeared to be nothing more than a large economic bubble, especially when seeing Zynga's then US$10 billion total stock value.[10]

Gameloft's games have often been accused of being clones of other properties;[11][12][13][14] when asked about it at the November 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, chief executive officer (CEO) Michel Guillemot stated "The videogame industry has always played around a limited number of themes. There is maybe one new idea a year."[15][16] In response to many users commenting on Guillemot's remarks, Levi Buchanan of IGN defended Gameloft, stating that its games were usually well-polished, in contrary to the original concepts' games.[17]

By July 2014, Gameloft announced that they would focus more strongly on quality than on quantity, as was stated to have previously been the case.[18]

In April 2013, Texan company Lodsys filed a lawsuit against Gameloft, among other mobile game developers, for infringing its patent on in-app purchases.[19] Similar lawsuits were previously intervened by Apple Inc., who claim to have licensed the technology from Lodsys for usage in its App Store.[20]

In February 2012 and February 2016, Gameloft penned publishing contracts with GREE, Inc. and GungHo Online Entertainment, respectively, to facilitate its presence in the Asian market.[21][22]

Vivendi subsidiary

In October 2015, French media conglomerate Vivendi announced that they had acquired a 6.2% stake in Gameloft's stock,[23] which was quickly raised to 10.2% a few days later.[24] By February 2016, Vivendi had acquired 30% in the company, and launched a hostile takeover bid.[25][26] In accordance with French law, Vivendi started a tender offer to acquire further shares.[27]

Following the announcement, Gameloft's board of directors strongly advised shareholders against selling stock to Vivendi to avoid the hostile takeover.[28] By May 2016, Vivendi had won over the majority of shareholders, enabling them to move forward in the takeover.[29]

The acquisition was completed on 1 June 2016, with Vivendi having acquired 56%, an absolute majority over Gameloft's ownership.[30][31] Employees of Gameloft were presented with an open letter welcoming them to the new parent company's family.[32][33]

Analysts believed that the takeover was just the first step towards also purchasing Ubisoft, another video game venture founded by Guillemot and his brothers, although Vivendi only held a 17.7% minority in that company at the time.[34][35][36] In response to Vivendi's actions, Guillemot announced that he would step down from his company and join his brother Yves Guillemot at Ubisoft to prevent it from also being taken over.[37][38] Guillemot later clarified that his stepping-down would take effect on 29 June.[39][40]

On 8 June, the Guillemot brothers announced that they were regretfully selling their ownership in Gameloft to Vivendi.[41][42] The transaction awarded Vivendi another 21.7% in Gameloft's capital.[43][44] After Guillemot departed from Gameloft on 29 June, Vivendi set up a new board of directors for the company, with Vivendi's present chief operating officer (COO), Stéphane Roussel, appointed Gameloft's chairman and CEO, and Gameloft's previous CFO, de Rochefort, additionally taking over the management of the company's 39 subsidiaries.[45] At that point, Vivendi owned 95.94% of Gameloft's share capital.[46]

Corporate affairs

Gameloft is headquartered at 14 rue Auber, 9th arrondissement of Paris.[47][48]

Studios

Gameloft operates 17 video game development studios worldwide.[1] In July 2011, Glenn Watson, lead programmer of Gameloft's Auckland offshoot, stated that the company's management created a "constant sense of urgency" at its studio, having employees regularly work 12- to 14-hour days.[49] A new studio in New Orleans was opened in August 2011, taking advantage of tax breaks granted by the government of Louisiana in July 2009 to establish 150 new jobs.[50] On 29 January 2013, Gameloft's India studio in Hyderabad was closed midway through the workday, leaving 250 people unemployed.[51][52][53] Between June and August 2015, Gameloft's Tokyo location made roughly 80 people, effectively being closed.[54] Additionally, on 8 July 2015, all operations at the company's New York City office were halted, and as many as 100 employees were laid off.[55][56] Shortly after, in September 2015, Gameloft's Seattle studio was closed down and its 15 employees were let go.[57][58][59] The studio was opened just a year prior to its closure.[60][61][62] Seven studios were closed in total in 2015.[63][64] Guillemot stated that these actions were taken to accommodate its "ambitious cost reduction program", instantiated after the company saw a net loss of 16.6 million in the fiscal year that ended on 30 June 2015.[65][66] In January 2016, Gameloft opened a Nigerian marketing office for regional expansions,[67] and shut down its Auckland studio, firing roughly 160 employees.[68][69] At the time, Gameloft Auckland was New Zealand's largest video game studio.[70] Gameloft's Valencia, Spain, location was shuttered in April 2016.[71] In July 2017, Gameloft appointed John-Paul Burke as country manager for its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[72] Gameloft UK later closed in December 2019.[73]

List of studios
Name Location Founded/acquired Ref(s).
Gameloft Barcelona Barcelona, Spain 2006 [74]
Gameloft Bucharest Bucharest, Romania 2000 [75]
Gameloft Budapest Budapest, Hungary 2012 [76]
Gameloft Kharkiv / Gameloft Kharkov Kharkiv, Ukraine 2007 [77]
Gameloft Montreal / Gameloft Montréal Montreal, Canada 2000 [78]
Gameloft Brisbane Brisbane, Australia 2014 [79]
Gameloft Cluj Cluj-Napoca, Romania 2010 [80]
Gameloft South-East Asia
2004 [81]
Gameloft Lviv Lviv, Ukraine 2014 [82]
Gameloft Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria 2005 [83]
Gameloft Toronto Toronto, Canada 2011 [84]
FreshPlanet New York City, United States 2018 [85]
The Other Guys Buenos Aires, Argentina 2020 [86]

Services

In October 2019, Gameloft announced a partnership with mobile operator Telecom Italia to open TIM I Love Games, a games subscription service for Android and iOS, exclusive to Italy and TIM Italy customers.[87]

Games

References

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External links

  • Official website  

gameloft, french, video, game, publisher, based, paris, founded, december, 1999, ubisoft, founder, michel, guillemot, company, operates, development, studios, worldwide, publishes, games, with, special, focus, mobile, games, market, formerly, public, company, . Gameloft SE is a French video game publisher based in Paris founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co founder Michel Guillemot The company operates 18 development studios worldwide and publishes games with a special focus on the mobile games market Formerly a public company traded at the Paris Bourse Gameloft was acquired by media conglomerate Vivendi in 2016 Gameloft SETypeSubsidiaryIndustryVideo gamesFounded14 December 1999 23 years ago 1999 12 14 FounderMichel GuillemotHeadquartersParis FranceArea servedWorldwideKey peopleStephane Roussel chairman CEO Alexandre de Rochefort CFO Revenue258 000 000 euro 2017 Number of employees3 600 1 2021 ParentVivendi 2016 present Websitegameloft com Contents 1 History 1 1 Game development strategy 1 2 Vivendi subsidiary 2 Corporate affairs 2 1 Studios 2 2 Services 3 Games 4 References 5 External linksHistory EditGame development strategy Edit Gameloft was founded by Michel Guillemot one of the five founders of Ubisoft on 14 December 1999 2 3 By February 2009 Gameloft had shipped over 200 million copies of its games since its IPO 4 as well as 2 million daily downloads of its games via the App Store for iOS 5 6 Gameloft s chief financial officer CFO Alexandre de Rochefort noted that the company s games generated about 400 times more revenue on iOS than on Android partially because Google did not develop its Google Play storefront to entice customers to actually buy products as a result of which Gameloft heavily cut its investments in Android games development in November 2009 7 8 In July 2010 Gameloft instead attempted to sell Android games directly through its website avoiding the use of Google Play 9 In a May 2011 keynote de Rochefort stated that he wanted to avoid moving the company to the NASDAQ stock exchange as the U S games market appeared to be nothing more than a large economic bubble especially when seeing Zynga s then US 10 billion total stock value 10 Gameloft s games have often been accused of being clones of other properties 11 12 13 14 when asked about it at the November 2011 Consumer Electronics Show chief executive officer CEO Michel Guillemot stated The videogame industry has always played around a limited number of themes There is maybe one new idea a year 15 16 In response to many users commenting on Guillemot s remarks Levi Buchanan of IGN defended Gameloft stating that its games were usually well polished in contrary to the original concepts games 17 By July 2014 Gameloft announced that they would focus more strongly on quality than on quantity as was stated to have previously been the case 18 In April 2013 Texan company Lodsys filed a lawsuit against Gameloft among other mobile game developers for infringing its patent on in app purchases 19 Similar lawsuits were previously intervened by Apple Inc who claim to have licensed the technology from Lodsys for usage in its App Store 20 In February 2012 and February 2016 Gameloft penned publishing contracts with GREE Inc and GungHo Online Entertainment respectively to facilitate its presence in the Asian market 21 22 Vivendi subsidiary Edit In October 2015 French media conglomerate Vivendi announced that they had acquired a 6 2 stake in Gameloft s stock 23 which was quickly raised to 10 2 a few days later 24 By February 2016 Vivendi had acquired 30 in the company and launched a hostile takeover bid 25 26 In accordance with French law Vivendi started a tender offer to acquire further shares 27 Following the announcement Gameloft s board of directors strongly advised shareholders against selling stock to Vivendi to avoid the hostile takeover 28 By May 2016 Vivendi had won over the majority of shareholders enabling them to move forward in the takeover 29 The acquisition was completed on 1 June 2016 with Vivendi having acquired 56 an absolute majority over Gameloft s ownership 30 31 Employees of Gameloft were presented with an open letter welcoming them to the new parent company s family 32 33 Analysts believed that the takeover was just the first step towards also purchasing Ubisoft another video game venture founded by Guillemot and his brothers although Vivendi only held a 17 7 minority in that company at the time 34 35 36 In response to Vivendi s actions Guillemot announced that he would step down from his company and join his brother Yves Guillemot at Ubisoft to prevent it from also being taken over 37 38 Guillemot later clarified that his stepping down would take effect on 29 June 39 40 On 8 June the Guillemot brothers announced that they were regretfully selling their ownership in Gameloft to Vivendi 41 42 The transaction awarded Vivendi another 21 7 in Gameloft s capital 43 44 After Guillemot departed from Gameloft on 29 June Vivendi set up a new board of directors for the company with Vivendi s present chief operating officer COO Stephane Roussel appointed Gameloft s chairman and CEO and Gameloft s previous CFO de Rochefort additionally taking over the management of the company s 39 subsidiaries 45 At that point Vivendi owned 95 94 of Gameloft s share capital 46 Corporate affairs EditGameloft is headquartered at 14 rue Auber 9th arrondissement of Paris 47 48 Studios Edit Gameloft operates 17 video game development studios worldwide 1 In July 2011 Glenn Watson lead programmer of Gameloft s Auckland offshoot stated that the company s management created a constant sense of urgency at its studio having employees regularly work 12 to 14 hour days 49 A new studio in New Orleans was opened in August 2011 taking advantage of tax breaks granted by the government of Louisiana in July 2009 to establish 150 new jobs 50 On 29 January 2013 Gameloft s India studio in Hyderabad was closed midway through the workday leaving 250 people unemployed 51 52 53 Between June and August 2015 Gameloft s Tokyo location made roughly 80 people effectively being closed 54 Additionally on 8 July 2015 all operations at the company s New York City office were halted and as many as 100 employees were laid off 55 56 Shortly after in September 2015 Gameloft s Seattle studio was closed down and its 15 employees were let go 57 58 59 The studio was opened just a year prior to its closure 60 61 62 Seven studios were closed in total in 2015 63 64 Guillemot stated that these actions were taken to accommodate its ambitious cost reduction program instantiated after the company saw a net loss of 16 6 million in the fiscal year that ended on 30 June 2015 65 66 In January 2016 Gameloft opened a Nigerian marketing office for regional expansions 67 and shut down its Auckland studio firing roughly 160 employees 68 69 At the time Gameloft Auckland was New Zealand s largest video game studio 70 Gameloft s Valencia Spain location was shuttered in April 2016 71 In July 2017 Gameloft appointed John Paul Burke as country manager for its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Ireland 72 Gameloft UK later closed in December 2019 73 List of studios Name Location Founded acquired Ref s Gameloft Barcelona Barcelona Spain 2006 74 Gameloft Bucharest Bucharest Romania 2000 75 Gameloft Budapest Budapest Hungary 2012 76 Gameloft Kharkiv Gameloft Kharkov Kharkiv Ukraine 2007 77 Gameloft Montreal Gameloft Montreal Montreal Canada 2000 78 Gameloft Brisbane Brisbane Australia 2014 79 Gameloft Cluj Cluj Napoca Romania 2010 80 Gameloft South East Asia Ho Chi Minh City VietnamHanoi VietnamYogyakarta Indonesia 2004 81 Gameloft Lviv Lviv Ukraine 2014 82 Gameloft Sofia Sofia Bulgaria 2005 83 Gameloft Toronto Toronto Canada 2011 84 FreshPlanet New York City United States 2018 85 The Other Guys Buenos Aires Argentina 2020 86 Services Edit In October 2019 Gameloft announced a partnership with mobile operator Telecom Italia to open TIM I Love Games a games subscription service for Android and iOS exclusive to Italy and TIM Italy customers 87 Games EditMain article List of Gameloft gamesReferences Edit a b Corporate Gameloft Archived from the original on 17 February 2021 Retrieved 20 December 2021 Buchanan Levi 19 September 2005 Mobile Luminaries Michel Guillemot IGN Archived from the original on 20 July 2018 Retrieved 20 July 2018 Gameloft com The Global Online Entertainment Platform Ubisoft Press release 14 December 1999 Archived from the original on 2 March 2000 Retrieved 5 November 2018 Fahey Mike Gameloft Moves 200 Million Mobile Games Kotaku Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Crecente Brian Gameloft Sells 2M iPhone Games Kotaku Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Crecente Brian Gameloft Sells More than 20 Million Games on App Store Kotaku Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gibson Ellie 23 November 2009 Gameloft slashes Android investment Eurogamer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft cuts Android investment claims others will follow gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft Sidesteps Android Market for Mobile Assassin s Creed HAWX Wired Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Orland Kyle Gameloft CFO Warns Of Social Gaming Bubble Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 McWhertor Michael So Is This Your Legend of Zelda Rip off Gameloft Kotaku Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Fahey Mike Is This Gameloft s Team Fortress 2 or Battlefield Heroes Kotaku Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gameloft s GTA like Gangstar Vegas Hits the App Store TouchArcade toucharcade com 7 June 2013 Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Fahey Mike Gameloft Shows Off Impressive New Grand Theft Auto And Diablo Clones Kotaku Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Dutton Fred 11 January 2011 Gameloft answers game cloning charge eurogamer net Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Buchanan Levi 10 January 2011 Guillemot s Goal Gameloft on Every Screen IGN Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Buchanan Levi 3 December 2010 Editorial In Defense of Gameloft IGN Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft pushing quality over quantity gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Patent troll Lodsys sues mobile game makers despite Apple s intervention arstechnica com 8 April 2013 Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 emilygera 9 April 2013 Patent troll Lodsys sues Gameloft and Disney for use of in app purchases Polygon Archived from the original on 20 July 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gree secures publishing deals with Gameloft and Ubisoft gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Kerr Chris Gameloft and GungHo strike up new mobile partnership Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Nutt Christian Former Activision owner Vivendi takes stakes in Ubisoft Gameloft Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Nutt Christian Vivendi ups its stakes in Ubisoft and Gameloft may buy more stock Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Vivendi in process of mandatory takeover bid for Gameloft gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 8 November 2020 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Hall Charlie 25 February 2016 Report Ubisoft seeking investors to defend against Vivendi takeover Polygon Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Kerr Chris Vivendi ups stakes in Gameloft begins mandatory takeover Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gameloft board advises against selling stock to 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Retrieved 20 January 2018 Matulef Jeffrey 2 June 2016 Vivendi has seized control of Guillemot brothers mobile publisher Gameloft eurogamer net Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Pereira Chris 3 June 2016 As Ubisoft Worries About a Takeover Gameloft CEO Addresses His Company s Future gamespot com Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Francis Bryant Report Gameloft CEO stepping down after Vivendi takeover Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Vivendi s Gameloft takeover may spark resignation of Ubisoft co founder Ars Technica 2 June 2016 Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft CEO Michel Guillemot Defiant In Email To Staff Will Step Down June 29 Game Informer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Frank Allegra 1 June 2016 Report Gameloft CEO to step down following Vivendi takeover update Polygon Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Good Owen S 8 June 2016 Vivendi completes takeover of Gameloft as Guillemots sell stake Polygon Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Ubisoft founders to sell all remaining control in Gameloft to Vivendi Destructoid 9 June 2016 Archived from the original on 8 November 2020 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gameloft CEO to step down Vivendi issues letter to employees gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Paget Mat 8 June 2016 Vivendi to Buy Remaining Control of Gameloft as Guillemots Agree to Sell gamespot com Archived from the original on 22 July 2021 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Vivendi COO Stephane Roussel named Gameloft CEO gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft s board resigns names new boss Reuters 29 June 2016 Archived from the original on 6 September 2017 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Privacy Notice Gameloft Archived from the original on 27 March 2019 Retrieved 27 March 2019 World Presence Gameloft Archived from the original on 27 March 2019 Retrieved 27 March 2019 Former Gameloft Auckland head studio programmer calls working conditions dangerous Engadget Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gameloft creates 150 jobs with New Orleans studio gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 20 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Cifaldi Frank 250 out of work as Gameloft suddenly shuts down its India studio Updated Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 emilygera 30 January 2013 Gameloft shuts down India based studio at a loss of 200 jobs Polygon Archived from the original on 28 August 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 200 jobs lost as Gameloft closes Indian studio MCV UK mcvuk com 30 January 2013 Archived from the original on 22 July 2021 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Wawro Alex Report Gameloft lays off Tokyo devs weeks after debut game launch Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Wawro Alex Report Gameloft lays off staff shutters New York studio Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gameloft Closes Their NYC Studio Lays Off All Development Staff TouchArcade toucharcade com Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Report Gameloft closes Seattle studio develop online net 24 September 2015 Archived from the original on 27 November 2015 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Wawro Alex Gameloft shutters another studio this time in Seattle Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gameloft shutters Seattle studio gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 20 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 New Seattle studio for Gameloft gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft opens new Seattle studio develop online net 18 November 2014 Archived from the original on 4 November 2016 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Another Gameloft studio shuts down report MCV UK MCV 24 September 2015 Archived from the original on 22 July 2021 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft has closed seven unprofitable studios in 2015 MCV UK MCV 11 September 2015 Archived from the original on 22 July 2021 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft has closed seven studios so far in 2015 develop online net 11 September 2015 Archived from the original on 23 April 2016 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Wawro Alex Disappointing revenues account for Gameloft shuttering 7 studios Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gameloft has closed seven studios in 2015 gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Kerr Chris Gameloft opens Nigerian office for regional expansion Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Nutt Christian Gameloft shuts down New Zealand studio Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 160 jobs cut as Gameloft closes New Zealand studio gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Gameloft closure see New Zealand lose its largest studio develop online net 28 January 2016 Archived from the original on 30 March 2016 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Wawro Alex Report Gameloft shuts down another studio this time in Spain Game Developer Archived from the original on 21 January 2018 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Gameloft appoints new UK and Ireland country manager gamesindustry biz Archived from the original on 20 January 2018 Retrieved 20 January 2018 Batchelor James 5 December 2019 Gameloft UK shuts down GamesIndustry biz Archived from the original on 5 December 2019 Retrieved 5 December 2019 Gameloft Studios Barcelona Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Bucharest Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Budapest Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Kharkov Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Montreal Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Brisbane Gameloft Archived from the original on 17 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Cluj Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios South East Asia Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Lviv Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Sofia Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Gameloft Studios Toronto Gameloft Archived from the original on 12 February 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Takahashi Dean 19 December 2018 Gameloft acquires SongPop music trivia game maker FreshPlanet VentureBeat Retrieved 12 March 2022 Minotti Mike 15 September 2020 Gameloft acquires episode mobile storytelling games maker The Other Guys VentureBeat Retrieved 12 March 2022 Valentine Rebekah 24 October 2019 Gameloft partners with TIM Italy for new mobile subscription service GamesIndustry biz Archived from the original on 30 October 2019 Retrieved 30 October 2019 External links EditOfficial website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gameloft amp oldid 1132859148, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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