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Nazara buys a majority stake in MENA publisher Publishme

Spends $3 million for a 70% stake

Date Type Companies involved Size
June 17th, 2021 investment Nazara $2.7m
Nazara buys a majority stake in MENA publisher Publishme

India gaming outfit Nazara Technologies has acquired a majority stake in Publishme, the largest mobile game publishing agency in the Middle East and Turkey.

Nazara will pay around $3 million (₹200 million or 20 crore) for a 69.8 per cent stake.

With the acquisition, Nazara seeks to expand its international footprint in the free-to-play mobile games segment, building out local execution capabilities cutting across key growth segments including gamified learning and esports.

Building out capacity 

"MENA is a key geography for us and this acquisition will help us in establishing ourselves as a key player in the region. We are excited to have someone with deep regional knowledge and capabilities like Özgür and his team join the ‘Friends of Nazara’ network," commented Nazara joint MD Nitish Mittersain.

The ‘Friends of Nazara’ network comprises of established games companies in which Nazara holds majority stakes and works actively with existing founders and management teams to rapidly achieve scale.

These companies include Nodwin Gaming and SportsKeeda (in esports), Next Wave Multimedia, developer the largest mobile-based cricket simulation game in of World Cricket Championship (WCC) as well as Paper Boat Apps, developers of the popular gamified learning app Kiddopia.

"We are delighted to join Nazara and lead the company's foray in the MENA region," added Publishme CEO Özgür Özalp.

"Our alliance with Nazara offers a unique blend of network, global reach and local capabilities to further the growth of the gaming industry in the region. With this, Publishme will become a full-fledged publisher in the MENA region."

MENA is one of the fastest-growing games markets, with an estimated market value of $4.8 billion and has over 160 million players.

Nazara's annual revenues increased by 84 per cent to $61 million.


Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.