Recently, hi5 confirmed that it was being acquired by Tagged, but as it turns out it will not include the employees. In a statement to Gamasutra, Tagged said they will work with a few hi5 workers on a contract basis, but the rest of the staff will be let go, including the outspoken hi5 president and CTO Alex St. John.
"We will be shifting some team members internally to focus on hi5 implementation," said a spokesperson for Tagged. "This was an asset-only acquisition so we just acquired the brand, the website, and users."
The deal will add hi5's 230 million registered users to Tagged's own 100 million. Right now, the sites will be independent, but they'll eventually transition towards being more uniform.
"hi5 will eventually look and feel much more like Tagged, with a focus on social discovery (meeting new people)," added the Tagged spokesperson. "Games are an important part of the Tagged experience as well, so they will remain a focus for hi5."
