I-play, the mobile games company, today announced the successful completion of its acquisition of British mobile games porting specialist and developer, Ditto Studios. This strategic acquisition will enable I-play to deliver its products to market more quickly, through Ditto's proprietary technology that accelerates the process of providing mobile games to the hundreds of different handsets available on the market.

Mark Bridgeman will remain as Ditto's Managing Director (MD), whilst the other Ditto directors, Bob Wood, James Allcock, and Ian Metcalfe, will continue to manage the Ditto team. A full integration between both companies is now underway. Ditto is also an established developer of games, in particular 3D games. The first Ditto title being released on I-play's distribution network is a futuristic 3D inter-galactic third person shoot-out, Major Carnage. The title launches in July in the US and Europe and Ditto will continue to develop both 2D and 3D games.

"We are already reaching over 95% of the handsets on the market with our releases, making it appear to consumers that the mobile industry is a single platform. However, the increasingly fragmented mobile platform is one of the key challenges that the industry faces today and Ditto's technology and support will help us improve and accelerate this process," said Brian Greasley, CEO of I-play.

Mark Bridgeman, MD of Ditto commented: "We see I-play as the most dynamic company in wireless gaming and are very excited to have joined such a talented team. Ditto's vast experience in the mobile arena is a perfect compliment to I-play – there is a natural fit and clear role for us to play in porting and developing future I-play titles."