Aristocrat Leisure, the owners of mobile game conglomerate Pixel United, are set to splash $1.2bn on online gambling operators NeoGames.

Aristocrat, which formed Pixel United from the three mobile game studios which it owns - Product Madness, Plarium and Big Fish - also operate in the gambling and casino industry, the formation of Pixel United marking a significant diverisying of the company's interests and a deliberate move into the profitable mobile gaming space.

Despite NeoGames not handling mobile titles of any kind, the deal does mark a significant amount of money being spent by Pixel United’s parent company who are now a major mobile player all of which may leave some wondering why they don’t invest this money further into their lucrative mobile game division instead.

Pixel United boasts major free-to-play titles, including Raid: Shadow Legends which bring in big money to Aristocrat Leisure. “Our mobile-first games businesses generated a record $1.8 billion dollars in revenues in 2021, building on our all-time-high performance in 2020," CEO of Pixel United Michael Lang commented in 2021.

"As demand for our games continues to rise, we are stepping up our efforts as industry leaders, embracing a new name and business-to-business brand that will allow us to capture our opportunities fully.”

Big money in mobile, but tradition rules

It’s certainly interesting to note that, even back in 2021, Aristocrat’s mobile games division was making more money than the company has now offered for NeoGames. While the move could be construed that they see much value in the iLottery operator, it also indicates just how much value mobile is now bringing in for them.

It can often be hard for companies to break from tradition, and with this amount of revenue Aristocrat Leisure may feel that it's time to reinvest in their roots rather than simply investing further in mobile. Perhaps further mobile investment is just around the corner.