We're keeping track of the biggest deals in the mobile games industry through our deal tracker, which links to all the stories as they happen and offers a great at-a-glance view of what's going on in the industry.
The games industry, particularly the mobile space, is abuzz with M&A activity, funding rounds and partnerships every week.
Keeping track
So throughout 2017 we'll be doing monthly round-ups of these deals and analysing the emerging trends.
Click on the link below to take a look at the games industry deals and trends shaping 2017..
The deal was a surprise, but shows the reach Outfit7 has through its portfolio of apps that includes the aforementioned Talking Tom and its latest title, My Talking Hank (a talking dog).
Previous reports had claimed the deal was led by Chinese chemical firm Zhejiang Jinke Entertainment Culture, though this has not been officially confirmed.
The acquisition is the latest in a string of strange big money deals from Asia, and particularly China, that are now seemingly common place.
Previous similar acquisitions include a Chinese textile company buying Shanda Games for $1.9 billion, Chinese Mobile Games and Entertainment being bought out by a Chinese auto group for $1 billion, a building company acquiring FunPlus for $1 billion and a Chinese chicken supplier snapping up UK studio Splash Damage.
Asia and VR
Though the biggest deal in Asia last month for games, it was far from the only one.
The move will be a boon for developers using the platform after Marmalade announced in September 2016 it was ceasing development of it altogether. The last update had been expected for March 2017, but the tech will now continue to be supported.
Exactly what the deal means for customers remains to be seen, however.
Japan mobile games publisher Gumi meanwhile partnered with non-profit EUVR to bring virtual reality investment to European developers. Those who partner with the scheme will be given better access to investment opportunities and incubation programs from Asia.
It comes after Gumi contributed to the $50 million Venture Reality Fund, a scheme that South Korea-based developer YJM Games also invested in during January 2017, with the latter company promising to spend more on AR, VR and MR in the coming years.
It shows just how popular VR is becoming in Asian markets, and that a number of companies consider is potential enough to make big bets on its future.
Marketing mix
One of the biggest stories outside of Asia was the news that mobile measurement firm AppsFlyer raised $56 million in a Series C fund round.
The company claimed it had measured an estimated $6 billion in mobile ad spent in 2016, while worldwide spend on marketing is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2017.
It’s not clear whether Omniata is still open for use by third-party developers, but if it is, it becomes part of a growing portfolio of tools and services by King, which also makes its game engine Defold freely available to developers.
It aims to use the funding to help it grow and accommodate more campaigns. Unlike Kickstarter, Fig enables equity-based crowdfunding that gives investors the ability to make returns on the money they put in.
It's evidence the crowdfunding space continues to be alive and well. Two currently active campaigns on the platform, Buddy System’s Little Bug and Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, have both passed their funding goals, with the latter nearly doubling its target and raising $2 million with 21 days still to go.
More games industry dealings
Those weren’t the only deals in the games industry in January 2017, of course.
Below we've rounded up all the other deals we've covered on our deal tracker, which includes more transactions and numerous partnerships.
The deal was made up of $175 million in cash and nearly 1.5 million unregistered shares of Take-Two common stock.
For Take-Two, which wholly owns leading console developers Rockstar Games and 2K Games, it's a move into the mobile space and a statement of its ambitions for the platform.
This was by far the biggest M&A activity of the month, but Take-Two wasn't the only company in the console space increasing its mobile footprint.
TT Games is owned by Warner Bros, and is best known for its LEGO games on consoles. Playdemic, meanwhile, is only 33 people strong but has recently garnered attention with the release of Golf Clash.
The deal also sees Kabam's Customer Support Team at its Austin office, as well as parts of the Business Development, Marketing Art and User Acquisition teams from Kabam San Francisco, brought under the Netmarble umbrella.
Kabam Games will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, while the remaining assets - including its LA and San Francisco studios - have been spun-off into a new company called Aftershock.
Aftershock itself has now "opened itself for acquisition."
Other big money investments saw Chinese developer ShineZone raise $58 million, which will be spent on overseas expansion and growth of its incubator programme and global distribution network.
After raising $3 million in seed funding back in April 2016, Helsinki studio Armada Interactive took its funding total to $10 million on February 23rd.
Focused on core gaming and eSports with both Western and Asian appeal, CEO Samuli Syvähuoko commented that Korea Investment Partners - who led the funding round - "will be a key strategic partner."
Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.