Zynga acquires founders of open source iPhone game project Cocos2d

That's right, like we said before when the company hired EA chief operating officer John Schappert, Zynga is downright acquiring people. (It's kind of like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, only Zynga is paying these stolen people a wage and not using their bodies for experiments.) The company announced today that it has hired Richard Quesada and Rolando Abarca, the co-founders of cocos2d. The open source iOS and Mac OS game development platform will still be run by Quesada and Abarca, but they are now officially Zynga employees.

Not to mention that the company has acquired something in the traditional sense: assets of Sapus Media, a company ran by the duo. VentureBeat reports Zynga said that it is a large supporter of the open source community and that the two hires will help in their mobile gaming efforts. In the company's crusade to dominate mobile, it seems that no rock will be left unturned in its quest for new talent. If we're now counting people as acquisitions, this marks Zynga's fourteenth buyout in a year. Come on, Zynga, you only have 22 days left to make it 15!

[Image Credit: Cocos2d]

How do you think this hire (ahem, acquisition) will affect Zynga's mobile game development? If Zynga is in support of the open source community, what do you think are the chances of the company releasing its own open source game engine? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.