SciPlay has made a majority acquisition of Turkey-based casual mobile games developer Alictus, in a $100 million all-cash transaction.
The acquisition is for 80 per cent of the company and the cash payment is not subject to financing. SciPlay also intends to acquire the remaining 20 per cent of Alictus in equal instalments with valuations being based on revenue and profitability targets.
With this acquisition, SciPlay aims to increase its scale within the casual and hypercasual market and has a target of increasing its daily active users by approximately 1.8 million. In terms of monthly users, the company is aiming for an additional 28 million.
Furthermore, Alictus’ in-app advertising platform will be utilised to diversify revenue streams.
Building on success
"We are incredibly excited to continue our expansion in the casual space and partner with a proven leader like Alictus that boasts an impressive, unique culture, and an extraordinary track record of delivering chart-topping games," said SciPlay CEO Josh Wilson.
"This acquisition provides SciPlay an entry point into this market with a highly talented team and a robust pipeline of hyper-casual games, helping us to diversify into the in-app advertising business model and participate in the massive and fast-growing mobile advertising market."
Alictus’ portfolio of games has accumulated more than 300 million total downloads to date. Its games include Candy Challenge 3D, Rob Master 3D, and Collect Cubes, among others.
Alictus CEO and co-founder Emre Taş commented: "Alictus has built one of the leading hyper-casual game businesses in the world, and together with my co-founder and COO Ecem Baran, we are thrilled to be joining forces with SciPlay at this important point in our growth trajectory. I am confident that with SciPlay, our team will step up to create and thrive in our next phase of growth."
The existing management will continue to lead Alictus and its studio in Turkey is expected to be maintained.
Netflix has recently announced its intention to acquire Next Games for a total value of around $72 million, with the successful acquisition leading to the development of games based on popular entertainment IP.
