Zynga buys Peak Games' card titles for $100 million, a look at how Glu transformed, and Bon Games closes a $1.4 million seed round
With Zynga Poker already under its belt as one of its top-grossing games, you wouldn't think Zynga would need any more card games - but the developer disagrees.
It has now acquired the card game catalogue of Peak Games in an all-cash deal worth $100 million, a story so surprising that it shot to the top of our Hot Five list last week.
Second on the list is Jon Jordan's look back over the history of Glu Mobile, examining how its business has changed from focusing on games for men to lifestyle apps for women.
Transit, diamonds, and new hires
Third up, Bon Games has secured a $1.4 million investment round to help launch its first game, Transit King, with Fingersoft acting as the publisher.
And finally, King has soft-launched Royal Boulevard Saga again under the name Diamond Diaries Saga, and flaregames has hired a former PopCap Studio Director as its new Head of Studio.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our reader's eye over the last week.
#5: Flaregames appoints former PopCap Studio Director as Head of Studio
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Flaregames appoints former PopCap Studio Director as Head of Studio »Nonstop Knight publisher Flaregames has appointed former PopCap Games Studio Director Todd English as its new Head of Studio.
English will oversee Flare’s internal studios Keen Flare and Kopla Games. Both teams are set to release new games in 2018.
English will also support the Flaregames senior management team in driving the company’s future product strategy alongside fellow Head of Studio Justin Stolzenberg.
As well as working at PopCap Games, English has held roles as Head of Studio at GameDuell, Senior Developer at Microsoft and Senior Software Developer at Attachmate.
Most recently he was the CEO of Studio49, a company he co-founded that focused on casual eSports.
#4: King soft-launches Royal Boulevard Saga again under new name Diamond Diaries Saga
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King soft-launches Royal Boulevard Saga again under new name Diamond Diaries Saga »King absolutely loves soft-launching games - or so you'd probably surmise after you see just how many titles it has in just a handful of countries.
It loves soft-launching games so much that it appears to have re-soft-launched Royal Boulevard Saga under the new name Diamond Diaries Saga, over a year after it was first released.
Both games share the same images on their Google Play store pages, and a near-identical description, so it's highly likely they're the same game.
What we don't know is when it will actually get released for real - so far it's only available in Argentina on Android.
#3: Finnish startup Bon Games closes $1.4 million seed round to launch first game Transit King
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Finnish startup Bon Games closes $1.4 million seed round to launch first game Transit King »Finnish mobile games developer Bon Games has closed a $1.4 million seed funding round to launch its first game.
The funding round was led by Finnish investors Polkuni and Nurmiranta Holdings. The developer will be releasing its first game, Transit King, with Finnish developer-turned-publisher Fingersoft.
Transit King is a tycoon game about building a transit network to deliver raw materials. It will launch on November 16th 2017 after several months in soft launch, which has shown positive results.
The publishing agreement appears to be with Fingersoft itself, and not the studio's new publishing arm Round Zero.
#2: From snipers to sofas: The transformation of Glu Mobile
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From snipers to sofas: The transformation of Glu Mobile »Remember when Glu made shooty games for a gruff, male audience? It may feel like a lifetime ago, but it's worth remembering that Kim Kardashian: Hollywood launched just five years ago.
While five years is an eternity in mobile gaming, in reality it's a drop in the ocean, and Jon Jordan has taken a look at just how much Glu has changed in such a short space of time.
"When it was making shooting games for guys, Glu had a very strong vision of what it wanted to do but couldn’t generate growth or profits. When it was making celebrity games, it had a radically different vision and could generate growth and profits, but not sustain them," he writes.
"Now, the vision has changed once again, almost accidentally."
#1: Win-win: Peak Games sells its casual card game portfolio to Zynga for $100 million
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Win-win: Peak Games sells its casual card game portfolio to Zynga for $100 million »You may know Peak Games from its absolutely wonderful Toy Blast and Toon Blast, but it also has a bunch of card games that are doing quite well too.
Or, it did have a bunch of card games - it's just sold the lot, along with its Istanbul-based development studio, to Zynga for $100 million.
The all-cash deal means that Zynga has the largest card game portfolio in the mobile gaming market, with the company stating that the acquisition will be immediately accretive.
Meanwhile, Peak Games can focus on its match-3 games that have made it so successful, and have an enormous amount of money to back it up.