Developer collective Stillfront Group has acquired 100% of Hamburg-based mobile strategy game developer Goodgame Studios for €270 million ($318.4 million).

The deal is made up of €39 million in cash and 16,868,623 newly issued shares. This means that Goodgame's owners will hold 36.5% of shares and votes in Stillfront. There will also be a sale of shares in January once the deal closes, bringing the cash total for Goodgame shareholders up to €155 million.

Goodgame co-founders Kai and Christian Wawrzinek will become major shareholders in the company through their own holding company. It has also been proposed that Christian Wawrzinek should join the board of Stillfront.

Given that Goodgame Studios is far bigger than Stillfront, the deal is seen by the developer as more of a merger. It will also give Goodgame the opportunity to be publicly traded indirectly for the first time.

Stillfront estimates that Goodgame will contribute up to €130 million in revenues for the group in 2018. The developer surpassed $1 billion in lifetime revenues in November 2017.

Long-term vision

"This is a consequent step towards our long-term vision of creating one of the world's leading gaming companies," said Dr. Kai Wawrzinek, CEO Goodgame Studios.

"Stillfront has over the past years delivered continuous, predictable and reliable growth. Together we have a truly unique opportunity to take full advantage of this growing market."

This is the third acquisition the Stillfront Group has made in 2017. It picked up online and mobile games developer eRepublik Labs for €7.5 million in May, and 51% of browser-based German sports management game OnlineFussballManager.de for €639,000 in July.