Another Social Gaming Roll-Up Centers On Buenos Aires Talent

The Silicon Valley force is increasingly with BA social gaming companies like Three Melons.

Hot on the heels of acquiring Buenos Aires-based MetroGames for $5 million, California-based Playdom has decided to double down on the local talent pool by purchasing another BA game development studio, Three Melons. The San Francisco Chronicle points to the deal as another sign of a “massive roll-up” in the social gaming space involving Playdom and rivals Electronic Arts and Zynga.

So why the sudden buying frenzy? “The answer is simple,” says Business Insider’s Nick Saint, “People are making lots of money getting Facebook users addicted to simple games and then selling these users ‘virtual goods’ that make the games slightly easier to play.”

Three Melons, self-described maker of Juicy Online Games, launched the popular Bola for Facebook in January, an online soccer game that lets players build their teams from scratch, sign on major sponsors and design their own stadiums.

The Playdom acquisition has important implications for future deal-making in Argentina and, according to one Palo Alto-based Argentine CEO, is changing the way BA companies think about the path to venture capital, global recognition and validation.

Bling Nation CEO Wences Casares told VentureBeat: “Three Melons serves as another example of how young Argentine companies can bypass the traditional business-political dynamic in Argentina, which remains laden with cronyism and corruption. Twenty and thirty-somethings are discovering they can skip the hassles of selling in Argentina and instead launch global companies from (Silicon Valley).”

For more information about social gaming in Argentina, download the new issue of InvestBA Privada.