Playtika’s next move, The Division Resurgence’s early numbers and Game of Thrones’ next mobile title | Week in Views
The games industry moves quickly and while stories may come and go there are some that we just can't let go of…
So, to give those particularly thorny topics a further going over we've created a weekly digest where the members of the PocketGamer.biz team share their thoughts and go that little bit deeper on some of the more interesting things that have happened in mobile gaming in the past week.
Craig Chapple
Playtika launches portfolio-wide strategic review
Who will buy Playtika?
Playtika looks to be up for sale as it reopened a strategic review of its portfolio to “maximise shareholder value”. The company previously launched a review in 2022, only to pause it in 2024 over “ongoing uncertainty in Israel and Ukraine”.
It sounds like the company is up for sale. So who would buy it?
At the time of writing, the publisher has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a dramatic fall from its early days trading north of $30 per share to just over $3 today.
The company has spent more on acquisitions than what investors currently value it at. The acquisition of Dice Dreams and Disney Solitaire developer SuperPlay was worth up to $1.95 billion. Last year Playtika said it could allocate up to $450m for “bolt-on” M&A over the next few years.
But in the last investor call, resident and CFO Craig Abrahams said while it was going to "try and be opportunistic" for further deals, one of its priorities is investing in SuperPlay and paying those earnouts.
Playtika acquired InnPlay Labs for up to $300m in 2023, bought Reworks in a deal worth up to $600m in 2021, Seriously for an undisclosed fee reported to be around $275m in 2019, and Wooga in a deal estimated to be over $100m in 2018. It also tried to buy Rovio for around $800m, though was ultimately beaten by Sega.
Playtika isn’t short of revenue-generators in its portfolio, which includes Bingo Blitz, Solitaire Grand Harvest, Slotomania, June’s Journey, Dice Dreams and Disney Solitaire. It’s a largely aging portfolio, with one of the jewels being its social casino portfolio.
In terms of a growth story, its most exciting division is arguably SuperPlay, which has been able to release new hits over the years, with Disney Solitaire looking particularly promising.
It’s hard to see who would buy the entire business. AppMagic estimates show its star games have all declined, outside of SuperPlay. Though it’s worth noting that Playtika has successfully shifted a lot of its business to its direct-to-consumer platform, so this may not be entirely accurate. Officially figures put company revenue up around $30m between Q4 2021 and Q4 2025.
Bloomberg previously reported previous interest from private equity buyers, which could potentially get resurrected. As for games publishers, to throw random names into the ring: Tencent? Netmarble? Zynga? The latter has a social casino business and would perhaps have tried to acquire SuperPlay during its M&A spree years back that saw it buy Small Giant Games, Gram Games, Peak and Rollic. But would it have bought a declining wider business?
We’ll see if Playtika’s studios can find a good home in the coming years.
Paige Cook
The Division Resurgence makes $717,000 in first seven days
One of the interesting recent mobile releases is Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence, a game that I wasn’t sure would ever actually see the light of day.
Originally announced back in 2022, the game went through multiple delays and what felt like long stretches of silence. Ubisoft’s overall work on The Division series also faced other roadblocks, such as the cancellation of The Division Heartland in 2024, so I wondered if Resurgence would meet the same fate.
Instead, here we are and the game is out and its early performance is looking steady. According to AppMagic, the game generated around $717,000 in player spending during its first seven days. Not huge by mobile standards, but it is in line with Ubisoft’s other mobile shooter, Rainbow Six Mobile which followed a similar trajectory.
Of course, both of these franchises have been around for many years and have loyal player bases across console and PC, so perhaps it felt natural to bring The Division to mobile and I’m sure many fans of The Division will at least dabble with the mobile experience.
From a gameplay perspective, from what I’ve played, the early impressions are pretty good. Resurgence genuinely feels like a Division game, and everything feels familiar from that mainline experience.
But as with all mobile games, it’s not so much about the early numbers and impressions, it's about retention. I’ve only played the early missions, which makes it difficult to judge how monetisation might impact progression systems, but I feel it will play a key role in whether players stick around. The game needs to feel rewarding enough without the constant urge to spend.
Long-term engagement will be key here, and when you look at Rainbow Six Mobile, where initial momentum is slowing, Resurgence will likely face the same challenge eventually and have to try to overcome it.
But after the delays I’m glad to see it has made it to launch, and I’ll be intrigued to follow this one and see how it does in the long run.
Aaron Astle
Game of Thrones: Dragonfire opens pre-registrations with 10m target
Another Game of Thrones game is on the horizon, this time taking inspiration from spinoff prequel House of the Dragon.
Titled Game of Thrones: Dragonfire, the Warner Bros Games strategy title will task players with unlocking dragons and raising them for more. Fans of the series will already be familiar with Syrax, Caraxes and Seasmoke, but even fantasy veterans are promised new surprises with original characters included.
I’ve been a fan of Game of Thrones since the first season, and while I’ve often wondered why there aren’t more licenced games for console - turn the Battle of Winterfell into a grand strategic battle or an action-packed hack and slash scenario, and I’ll be a happy customer - it’s always intriguing to see the latest use of the IP.
Whether it’s a match-3 game from Zynga or a mobile RPG from Netmarble, Game of Thrones keeps popping up. And soon, the tactical game Dragonfire will be joining the ranks, with plenty of lessons to learn from revenue commander Game of Thrones: Conquest.