Google acquires social games website SocialDeck

NEW YORK, USA: Internet search giant Google has acquired social games website SocialDeck, the move plans to strengthen its social networking service.

SocialDeck, a Canadian start-up, has launched several games titles for Facebook, Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices.

SocialDeck has announced on its website that it has been acquired by Google.

The game has social-networking features as well, including a page that displays other friends currently playing the game, a leader board and statistics of friends' gaming performance. Players can also post comments in a stream similar to instant messaging.

SocialDeck, which has workers in Toronto and San Francisco, received financing from the BlackBerry Partners Fund in early 2009.

"We were very impressed with the team's talent as well as the technically advanced platform engaging mobile experiences they've built," Google said in a statement. The team will work in partnership with Google staff in Waterloo, Ontario, Google said.

"We're pleased to welcome them to Google, and we think they'll be great contributors in partnership with the Google Waterloo team as we continue to innovate in the mobile space."

At Google, SocialDeck workers will join those from Angstro, a company that built a product called Noteworthy News that delivers news about people and companies in a user's professional network. Angstro said on Friday that Google had acquired it.

Earlier in the month, Google had bought social widgets maker Slide Inc in a deal that would give the search giant a team of developers with vast experience in social networking.

(With inputs from Reuters.)