BBC Worldwide is making a strategic investment in a company whose technology will let it port its games to any mobile platform.
The BBC’s commercial and overseas unit is investing an unspecified sum in Spaceport, whose technology leverages HTML5, Javascript and OpenGL to let creators convert vector graphics-based games for multiple platforms.
This is a second investment round for Burlingame, California-based Spaceport, which is incubated at YouWeb, which supported the development of the OpenFeint social gaming network.
BBC Worldwide has “a view to use Spaceport.io’s technology to design its next generation of games and apps” on mobile and connected TV, Spaceport says. The first fruits of their relationship are due this summer.
The stake it is taking in Spaceport is not thought to be significant.
BBC Worldwide has released almost 40 games on brands like Doctor Who and Top Gear in the last two years.
With a burgeoning number of platforms for which to develop, some content owners are now looking beyond iOS but want to do so in a cost-effective manner.
FT Group this January acquired Assanka, the mobile design agency which built its HTML5 web app, the alternative to its iOS counterpart.