Kabam looks to enter the third dimension, buys Battle Punks makers

Time to update your Flash Player. Kabam, the social games maker behind strategy hits like Dragons of Atlantis, has acquired Gravity Bear for undisclosed terms. A studio best known for Battle Punks, a 3D fighting game for Facebook, the entire Emeryville, Calif.-based Gravity Bear team will join Kabam in San Francisco. And the two are already at work.

Kabam has already revealed that it will create a full-3D game set in the Battle Punks universe with the Gravity Bear team. The untitled sequel of sorts will, of course, be free to play on Facebook and elsewhere. Kabam will opt to use Stage 3D technology, which is built into the newest version of Flash Player (the most common tool used to make social games).

Yes, this means that players will get enjoy 3D graphics on Facebook with zero download necessary. The unnamed Battle Punks game is a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) that has been in development for over a year. That's far longer than most social games are in development, which can only be a good thing (to a point). In the game, players will create their own avatars and fight with other players in 3D. Alongside companies like Gameloft, Kabam is one of the first major social game makers to embrace 3D in social games.

"The original Battle Punks was already a fun, immersive game," Kabam Game Studio president Andrew Sheppard said in a release. "We look forward to taking the game to a new level with Stage 3D and building this title into a very large franchise, much like we did with Dragons of Atlantis."

Are you excited to see what comes of this new Battle Punks game? Was this a smart move for Kabam to make? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.