The recent acquisition by Waat Media of one of Europe’s top mobile game developers was described by the company president as “critical” to Waat’s speeding up its move toward providing more mainstream mobile entertainment. Sherman Oaks-based Waat acquired Charismatix Ltd. & Co. KG, headquartered in Germany. Waat is one the world’s leaders in providing late night mobile entertainment through its partnerships with such companies as Vivid Entertainment, Mantra Films, producer of the “Girls Gone Wild” series, Playboy TV, and recently announced a deal with Card Player Media, publisher of Card Player magazine and other publications. Many of those brands are now moving toward more mainstream products, said Ian Aaron, president and chief executive officer of Waat Media. “Vivid has a club at The Venetian (in Las Vegas). There are other products they are marketing from clothing to tires on wheels,” Aaron said. “In return our company is evolving in a similar fashion. “Our acquisition of Charismatix was critical in our acceleration for our branded partners,” Aaron said. Aaron made the announcement of the Charismatix acquisition on Feb. 12 at the 3GSM World Congress 2006 in Barcelona. Waat provides images, games, video and mobile TV for 750 million subscribers in 25 countries, doing about 90 percent of its business overseas, Aaron said. Bringing Charismatix into the fold allows Waat to expand its offerings with video chat applications and additional casino games including Caribbean stud and draw poker, Texas Hold-em, and slots, Aaron said. Charismatix-developed technology will also allow for multi-player gaming in which players in different locations can play against each other, Aaron said. “People are looking to engage with other people and gaming will be no different,” Aaron said. The company’s content is geared toward men, women and couples, Aaron said. “Depending on the content, it then narrowly defines the audience,” Aaron added. “In general it is 18 years and older.” Waat Media was founded in 2001 as an offshoot of Powersports-Powerdocs, an international and domestic entertainment distribution and licensing company also based in Sherman Oaks. In Europe, the company worked with mobile communications operators to develop a 33-tiered ratings system to distribute content in a way they are comfortable with, Aaron said. A similar process is now underway with U.S. operators with some testing of the system expected in mid-2006 and glamour-oriented programming being made available in the latter part of the year, Aaron said.
