The previously unnamed studio working with Snapchat on their new gaming platform seems likely to be Australian, with Snapchat’s parent company investing over $500,000 to acquire ownership of the studio founded by the creators of Fruit Ninja.
A report from Kotaku Australia alumni Jackson Ryan and Mark Serrels at CNET has revealed that Kathryn Carter, the general manager of Snapchat’s Australian operations, has taken over as the director of Prettygreat’s studios.
Documents lodged with ASIC also reveal that founders Luke Muscat and Philip Larsen, who are credited with making Fruit Ninja, sold their shares in the company to Snap. The ASIC filing notes that Snap paid $500,000 for two preference shares, and $6 for the remaining ordinary shares.
Another filing with the corporate regulator also shows that Muscat, Larsen and Hugh Walters have ceased to be officeholders of Prettygreat, which was founded a few years ago after the trio left Halfbrick studios. To date, Prettygreat has released a few mobile games including Slide the Shakes, Land Sliders and Crash Club.
The change in company ownership was filed to ASIC in early January. Neither company has commented publicly on CNET’s report, and Prettygreat did not reply to queries from Kotaku Australia at the time of writing. A representative for Snap Australia also declined to comment post-publication.
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