Vivendi Buys Assault Heroes Devs

February 20, 2007

If you have seen me on Xbox Live in recent weeks, you would have noticed that I am addicted to Assault Heroes for Xbox Live Arcade. Developed by Wanako Games, the game is an Ikari Warriors-style top down shooter that truly shows the potential for original content over the popular online service. Today, the team at Wanako have more to celebrate than th popularity of their latest game or the distinction of being the largest game development studio in Latin America, as the company was acquired by Vivendi Games.

Wanako will now be looped in with Vivendi’s Sierra Online division for the internal development of online games. Sierra Online will bring to life several of Wanako’s original concepts and will retain and grow its team of developers. Sierra Online previously worked with Wanako on the development of Assault Heroes, which was released for Xbox Live Arcade in December 2006.

“We are very excited to join a visionary group like Sierra Online who is focused on bringing truly entertaining and innovative online games to a mass market,” said Esteban Sosnik, founder and former CEO of Wanako Games. “In working with Sierra Online on Assault Heroes it quickly became clear that our companies shared the same core values in game development and by joining together we could develop and deliver amazing products.”

Sosnik will become head of Sierra Online Latin America and assume a broader role responsible for Sierra Online’s business initiatives in Latin America.