Viacom-Owned Paramount Buys Game Developer ScreenLife

Paramount Pictures, the Viacom-owned movie studio, has made its first gaming related acquisition: it has bought Seattle-based game developer ScreenLife, the creator of the popular DVD game "Scene It?". Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but last week SeattlePI first broke the story and mentioned that the deal is "for less than $100 million". Screenlife will continue to operate as a standalone company, but will report into Paramount Digital Entertainment.

Scene was launched in 2002 as a series of video-based trivia games..it has since sold about 15 million titles on the DVD, mobile, VOD and video game platforms. The company has over 25 DVD game titles on the market. Screenlife raised $7 million in angel financing in 2003, and a total of about $10 million. It has also expanded into mobile, with a deal with Namco Games?

For Paramount, this is part of the trend as gaming is becoming a big part of movie studios including Warner Bros and Disney ( NYSE: DIS). In March, Paramount announced the expansion of its interactive unit to include games, and appointed two executives in charge of the unit. In February, the studio formed Paramount Mobile Entertainment, to develop the studio's mobile opportunities and alternative distribution models. It just announced developing a series of comics based on films from its catalog.