Opera, the developer of the web browser of the same name, has announced its acquisition of YoYo Games, a Scotland-based team behind the popular game development tool, GameMaker Studio. The transaction is worth nearly $10 million, and it will help Opera kickstart a new division of its company, Opera Gaming.
This isn"t Opera"s first venture into the gaming world. In 2019, the company introduced Opera GX, a web browser designed for gamers, offering some performance-focused features such as low power usage and a network limiter to improve online connections in games. Over time, features such as integration with Razer Chroma have also been added, as well as Discord integration. While some might argue a "gaming browser" has no real benefits, Opera claims 7 million monthly active users in December 2020, a 350% growth year-on-year.
GameMaker Studio is a popular tool for indie developers, specifically for 2D games, allowing developers to create games for more platforms easily from a single codebase. Some acclaimed titles, such as Risk of Rain, Undertale, and Hyper Light Drifter, were developed using the tool.
Opera Gaming will bring together Opera GX and YoYo Games, and the company says the new division will focus on innovating in the gaming, game development, and browser spaces. It"s not clear exactly how that innovation will materialize just yet, but we"re likely to hear more about it in the future.