Officials from French publisher and developer Ubisoft have announced that the company has agreed to acquire the Indian development studio of primarily mobile phone focused developer Gameloft.

The studio was established in 2006 and is based in Pune in the west of the country, which is known as the “Oxford of the East” – in reference to the famous English university town. The city’s extensive university system claims to produce 80,000 engineers a year.

The studio currently employees a team of 120 developers and testers, which Ubisoft plans to increase to 200 within a year and by up to 500 over a longer period.

No financial details were given of the deal, which is expected to close during the first quarter of the 2008/9 financial year. The two companies, both of which are headquartered in Paris, have long enjoyed a close relationship, with Ubisoft owning 18.89 of Gameloft’s capital up until July last year.

Even beyond this the two companies have continued to work closely, with Gameloft producing mobile phone versions of many Ubisoft titles, as well as console games such as the Xbox Live Arcade title Prince of Persia Classic.

"Following on the recent announcement of our new Singapore studio, this acquisition will reinforce Ubisoft’s presence in Asia and the southeast region in particular. India has a promising future in the video game industry and this is an opportunity for us to establish ourselves in the country," stated Christine Burgess-Quémard, executive director of worldwide studios at Ubisoft.