Opera Software is signaling it has some big, but mysterious ambitions in gaming.
On Wednesday, the browser maker announced the acquisition of YoYo Games, the developer behind GameMaker Studio 2, for about $10 million. As the name suggests, the studio product is designed to help you build 2D games for a variety of platforms, including HTML5, Windows, Android, iOS, PS4, and Xbox One.
Opera is hinting it may integrate GameMaker Studio 2 in some way with Opera GX, its browser for PC gamers. It’s also possible the browser could end up hosting HTML5 games made with the studio product. “Together with Opera GX, GameMaker will form the cornerstone of Opera Gaming—a new division focused on expanding Opera’s reach and capabilities within the gaming space,” the company said in the announcement.
Introduced in 2019, Opera GX wasn’t created to stream or run games, but to make sure the browser never gets in the way of dragging down your PC experience.
It can do this by letting you limit how much RAM, CPU, or network data the browser is using, freeing up resources for your PC gaming sessions. The browser is also tightly integrated with the gaming chat service Discord and the live-streaming platform Twitch. Opera GX can also alert you about deals for free or discounted games.
The browser has been a hit with users, according to Opera’s Head of Business Development, Annette De Freitas. “Gaming is a growth area for Opera and the acquisition of YoYo Games reflects significant, sustained momentum across both of our businesses over the past year,” she said. “Our new Opera GX browser hit 7 million MAUs (monthly active users) in December, 2020, up 350% year over year.”
For now, the company isn’t specifically revealing how it’ll use the GameMaker Studio 2 acquisition. But Opera added: “Today’s news signals the start of an exciting new journey. One that we believe will unlock many exciting possibilities for developers and educators.”
GameMaker Studio is currently being used in more than 2,000 institutions to teach game design to students, according to YoYo Games. The game engine also attracted over 400,000 new registered creators last year.
