Zynga Announces Acquisition of Draw Something Creator OMGPOP

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Zynga announced today in a press call that it has acquired New York-based OMGPOP, creator of Draw Something, the Pictionary-style game that has been downloaded more than 35 million times. While it was rumored that the price would be somewhere around $200 million, Zynga’s chief mobile office David Ko said he was “not commenting on financials” during the call.

Dan Porter, CEO of OMGPOP, will now serve as vice president of Zynga New York. The rest of the staff will also stay in OMGPOP’s Soho office. According to Porter, the deal makes sense for OMGPOP because Zynga’s size will allow for Draw Something to add much-requested features such as online pictures galleries and in-game chat.

(MORE: ‘Draw Something’ App Downloaded 20 Million Times in First Five Weeks)

This isn’t new territory for Zynga. One of the company’s biggest hits before the OMGPOP acquisition was Words With Friends, which it acquired from the Texas-based Newtoy in 2010 in a deal worth $53.3 million.

OMGPOP also has 35 other titles, but let’s not kid ourselves: Draw Something was the only reason Zynga was interested. The game is currently the top free and paid app for both iOS and Android and recently passed Zynga’s Words With Friends in average monthly users.

With one billion drawings created in the last week alone, it’s not hard to see how OMGPOP’s 42-person staff could use the extra support from Zynga’s large pool of engineers. In case you were wondering, Porter said the game will still be called Draw Something, not Draw With Friends.

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