2009 has been a remarkably quiet year for games company mergers and acquisitions; the volume of transactions so far in 2009 is half that during the same period in 2008. Despite this reduced M&A newsflow, I am willing to bet that you missed a transaction – albeit modestly sized – that took place in September: the sale of a majority shareholding in Dutch online games publisher United Games.

The success of the microtransaction model in Asia has been repeatedly analysed. Its adoption in the West, however, has proven contentious. Many continue to assert that Western gamers will reject titles where ability to pay can so directly influence gameplay. Proponents of these views may be surprised to learn that, as of December 2008, over half of all MMOs launched in the West now use a microtransaction revenue model and that this proportion is continuing to grow.

Artix develops Flash-based persistent browser games which it operates through battleon.com, its own games portal. Its portfolio is centred around four core single, multiplayer and massively-multiplayer games titles.