Cerberus Interactive has acquired retail marketplace Tastebud, for an undisclosed sum.
As reported by MSN (thanks, Gamasutra), the deal sees Austin-based Cerberus acquire the Tastebud marketplace pricing platform that lets “brick and mortar businesses offer users deals that can be adjusted at any time, without the use of coupons or QR codes”. The developer says it hopes to utilise the tech in its upcoming game, Atlas Empires.
“This is a big win for mobile gamers and brick and mortar merchants alike,” said Tastebud CEO Marcelo Vieira. “Players will be able to get game resources through real-world transactions and merchants get increased on-premise transactions. The integration with Cerberus allows us to scale much faster and beyond the restaurant vertical.”
“Tastebud has a really unique technology,” said Cerberus CEO Sami Khan. “If the game doesn’t withhold the reward to making a purchase, gamers are taught the behaviour to go visit an area. What we’re doing with this technology is taking it a step further and saying go buy something.”
Tastebud CEO Marcelo Vieira will join Cerberus as an adviser, but only “some members” of Tastebud’s staff will also move over to Cerberus “for operations support and integration”, the company said.
Khan added that the goal is to add restaurants and retail stores “where people open their wallets”, but said they didn’t “have a preference between a Lowe’s or a Home Depot, but this could cause me as a gamer to have a preference”.
