On June 1, 2006, investment firm
Francisco Partners (as advised by
UBS Securities) agreed to provide US$150 million in funding to Foundation 9 over a time frame of several years, with additional funding to be provided when needed.[7] The investment was followed by the acquisitions of
Shiny Entertainment from
Atari in October 2006,[8]Amaze Entertainment and related studios in November 2006,[9] and
Sumo Digital and its Indian sub-studio in August 2007.[10] Under the terms of Shiny's acquisition, the studio would co-locate and merge with The Collective.[8] The merger was formally announced in October 2007, at which point both studios had moved to new 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) offices in
Irvine, California.[11] The amalgam was named
Double Helix Games in March 2008.[12] In January 2008, Foundation 9 promoted David Mann (previously
chief operating officer), Chris Charla and Jack Brummet to president, vice-president of
business development, and vice-president of
quality assurance, respectively,[13] followed by James North-Hearn, one of Sumo Digital's founders, becoming the chief executive officer of the company in March.[14]
In July 2008, Foundation 9 reinstated
Griptonite Games and
Fizz Factor, two studios absorbed into Amaze in 2005, under their original brandings.[15] However, in July 2009, Fizz Factor was closed down entirely, while Amaze was merged into Griptonite and Double Helix suffered staff cuts.[16] FXLabs, based in
Hyderabad, India, was acquired by Foundation 9 in October 2010 and became part of Griptonite under the name Griptonite India.[17] Griptonite was sold to
Glu Mobile in August 2011 in exchange for 6 million shares of Glu's
common stock.[18] Backbone's location in
Vancouver had been closed in May 2009, and in October 2012, its
ImaginEngine studio was closed as well, while its primary location in
Emeryville, California, laid off the majority of its staff.[19][20][21] In February 2014, Double Helix was sold to
Amazon.[22] Later that year, under advisory from GP Bullhound, Foundation 9 sold Pipeworks to Italian publisher
Digital Bros, and Sumo Digital to its own management, the latter of which was backed by NorthEdge Capital.[23][24][25] In 2015, Foundation 9's board of directors elected to
dissolve the company.[citation needed]
Subsidiaries
Amaze Entertainment (2004–2009)[26] – Merged into Griptonite Games