News

Animoca Brands splashes out $3.7 million on 9-person Finnish studio TicBits

Hong Kong brand-focused publisher looks west

Date Type Companies involved Size
July 4th, 2016 acquisition Animoca Brands
TicBits
$3.7m
Animoca Brands splashes out $3.7 million on 9-person Finnish studio TicBits

9-person Finnish developer TicBits has proven that manpower and value are not directly proportional, after being acquired by Hong Kong-based publisher Animoca Brands for €3.35 million ($3.7 million).

That's €2.35m up-front, with a further €1 million to come - averaging out at a cost of around €372,000 per employee.

The studio's output thus far has been primarily based around existing casual game formulae, including takes on Sudoku, Mahjong, and match-3.

Branching out

But the studio's most recent release, 2015's Crazy Kings, was a more midcore tower defence/CCG hybrid.

From the perspective of Animoca Brands, the appeal of the deal is in TicBits' technology and European location. It also presents the opportunity for TicBits' future projects to leverage Animoca's brand advertising network.

"TicBits has a solid track record in the global mobile gaming market and this acquisition is expected to provide Animoca Brands with a solid platform for further growth and additional revenue generation," said Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung.

"TicBits has a strong portfolio of games and we will leverage these proprietary brands, game engines and know-how to endeavour to further expand our global market share."  

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

 


Features Editor

Matt is really bad at playing games, but hopefully a little better at writing about them. He's Features Editor for PocketGamer.biz, and has also written for lesser publications such as IGN, VICE, and Paste Magazine.