SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Feb 15, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, announced today it intends to acquire Scaleform Corporation, a privately held user interface (UI) tools and middleware company, for approximately $36 million in cash. Scaleform's leading technology has been licensed in the development of at least 800 games across major hardware platforms: PCs, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), and Nintendo Wii. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and expected to close in Autodesk's first quarter of fiscal 2012 (which ends on April 30, 2011).

Scaleform's flagship product, Scaleform GFx, allows development teams to more quickly and easily author game UIs and interactive 3D experiences using popular design tools: Adobe Flash and Adobe Creative Suite software. Scaleform GFx helps developers take advantage of the 3D hardware acceleration capabilities of modern systems to create cinematic quality menus, in-game heads up displays (HUDs), animated textures, mini-games, and even mobile games and applications.

"The Scaleform acquisition will further Autodesk's ability to provide customers with more complete workflows to more rapidly develop immersive 3D and casual game experiences," said Marc Stevens, Vice President, Games, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "The Scaleform team will bring a wealth of expertise in creating highly optimized runtime solutions for PCs, consoles and mobile devices. We expect the integration of Scaleform to allow us to innovate faster and help further improve the game creation process for online, console, and mobile development."

Autodesk is a leading provider of 3D content creation tools to the games industry. Autodesk is adding to its games portfolio in response to a growing industry need for more efficient, integrated content creation solutions.

"Our combined technologies will not only provide game developers with an improved authoring environment and runtime solution, but will also apply to the broader interactive entertainment industry ranging from film to mobile to the web," said Brendan Iribe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scaleform. "We will finally realize our long standing vision of integrating 2D and 3D authoring technology while continuing our commitment to deliver leading-edge real-time graphics solutions to our customers."

As part of the acquisition, Brendan Iribe, along with Scaleform's Chief Technology Officer, Michael Antonov, and Chief Operating Officer, Marc Bennett, will join the leadership team in Autodesk Media & Entertainment. Scaleform offices will remain in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Business Outlook

This transaction is expected to have no impact on previously issued guidance.

For more information please visit www.autodesk.com/scaleform

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding: the impact of the acquisition on Autodesk's earnings per share, business performance and product offerings; Autodesk's commitments to Scaleform customers; and the impact of the combined product capabilities. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: difficulties encountered in closing the acquisition of Scaleform and integrating Scaleform's business, including its customers, vendors and employees; costs related to the proposed acquisition; whether certain market segments grow as anticipated; the competitive environment in the software industry and competitive responses to the acquisition; our success developing new products or modify existing products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance; general market and business conditions; the timing and degree of expected investments in growth opportunities; failure to achieve; pricing pressure; failure to achieve continued cost reductions and productivity increases; changes in the timing of product releases and retirements; failure of key new applications to achieve anticipated levels of customer acceptance; failure to achieve continued success in technology advancements; interruptions or terminations in the business of our consultants or third party developers; the expense and impact of legal or regulatory proceedings; and unanticipated impact of accounting for acquisitions.

Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Autodesk are included in the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2010, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2010, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Autodesk does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

About Scaleform Corporation

Scaleform is a leading provider of user interface software for the videogame industry. Scaleform GFx enables developers to leverage the power of the Adobe Flash tool set and to streamline the creation of highly immersive user interface elements: hardware-accelerated 3D game menus, HUDs, animated textures, in-game videos and mini-games. Used across major platforms in at least 800+ games ranging from AAA to casual titles, the artist-driven Scaleform GFx has grown to include a Flash UI toolkit and framework, memory and performance analyzers, and add-ons for Flash video and IME for Asian chat. For more information, visit www.scaleform.com.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries - including the last 15 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects(R) - use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk is a registered trademark or trademark of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2011 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE: Autodesk, Inc.

Autodesk, Inc.
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