News Corp. acquires social games developer Irata Labs

Media titan News Corp. will enter the game development segment, acquiring social gaming developer Irata Labs for an undisclosed sum. Irata Labs is best known for creating Spymaster, an espionage game developed for the Twitter platform--conventional wisdom suggests the firm's games will fit into News Corp.'s efforts to revive its flagging MySpace social networking service. Although News Corp. chief digital officer Jon Miller has said video games are a key component of its new media strategy, the company has so far lagged behind rivals like The Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner.

For more on the Time Warner/Irata Labs deal:
- read this Dow Jones Newswires article

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