Changyou acquires Raidcall group voice service for $50 million, wants gamers to get chatty

Changyou (NASDAQ:CYOU), the Chinese online game developer and operator that runs titles like Blade Wars and Grand Chase, wants its gamers to get more chatty. That’s why the company has paid $50 million to acquire Raidcall, a popular group voice service that’s mostly used by gamers.

Raidcall has over 20 million registered users globally, according to today’s announcement, mostly in areas like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Russia, and Brazil. It’s also used by some eSports teams such as Evil Geniuses.

Once the deal goes through in December, Changyou will have a 62.5 percent stake in the Raidcall business. In Changyou’s home market of China, it’ll allow the firm to compete more strongly against YY (NASDAQ:YY), a chat-oriented social gaming service.

Changyou is China’s third biggest web gaming company, behind Tencent and Netease. It’s a subsidiary of web portal company Sohu (NASDAQ:SOHU).

(Editing by Josh Horwitz)