Duolingo isn’t finished acquiring mobile game talent after its swoop for NextBeat, it seems.
Space Ape and NextBeat cofounder Simon Hade – now at Duolingo after he and his team were acquihired – said on LinkedIn that the learning app wants to talk to other “small teams who might be OPEN TO ACQUI-HIRE conversations.”
The apps giant is especially keen to talk to devs “with experience building delightful, moment-to-moment gameplay on mobile,” he added.
Hade also said that Duolingo has “several upcoming projects” where “strong game sensibilities would make a direct impact on helping people learn…I’m particularly keen to meet teams with a track record of shipping together,” he added.
Hade later told us: “We’re always looking to connect with talented small game dev teams and individuals who might be excited about bringing their craft to Duolingo, similar to how the NextBeat team joined Duolingo earlier this year.”
He said that his NextBeat team was brought into Duolingo to help make its existing music experiences “even more delightful and game-like”. And there are further opportunities within the Duolingo app for mobile game teams to add their expertise, Hade continued.
“We’re exploring how similar creative, gameplay-driven thinking can power other new experiences, like Duolingo Adventures, an RPG-style lesson format.”
After that NextBeat deal, Duolingo’s London office is now home to around 30 people working across “music, marketing, and game-inspired learning projects”, added Hade.
