Xbox At E3
E3 2019: Microsoft acquires Psychonauts 2 dev Double fine
Developer joins growing number of in-house studios
Casual Expansion
WeQ: Investment in ad tech, development and publishing sets us apart from hyper-casual competition
Ad tech company has acquired Booster Studios to develop and publish in-house and third-party hyper-casual games
Big Deal
Stillfront snaps up Kixeye in deal worth up to $120m
Acquisition worth $90 million plus up to a potential further $30 million in earnouts
Nexon Acquisition Battle
Netmarble, Kakao and others submit final bids for Nexon
KKR & Co, Bain Capital and MBK Partners also join the fray, but there's no direct deal from Tencent
Vr Shocked
Report: VR and AR developer Leap Motion acquired by Ultrahaptics for $30 million
Leap Motion co-founder David Holz and engineering staff will join Ultrahaptics as part of the sale
M&a
Tencent acquires Malmo developer Sharkmob
“We view the future of online gaming the same way and Tencent being a leading internet and games platform gives Sharkmob the reach and resources to be a part of that future"
Magic
Magic Leap snaps up holographic teleconferencing start-up Mimesys
Belgian spatial-presence startup teams up with AR giant Magic Leap
Business Deal
Kahoot acquires learn-to-read app Poio
Latest acquisition comes hot on the heels of its purchase of DragonBox
Merged
Weighing up Zynga's $250m Gram acquisition one year on
Zynga's Bernard Kim and Gram Games' Kaan Karamanci discuss how the deal came about, what's changed, and what's stayed the same
Acquisition News
Rockstar acquires Indian developer Dhruva Interactive for $7.9m
Starbreeze sells majority stake in studio for $600k less than it paid
Acquisition News
Educational games provider Kahoot snaps up DragonBox for $18m
Developer's math apps to be made available to Kahoot's hundreds of millions of users
Make It So
Scopely acquires Star Trek Fleet Command dev Digit Game Studios
Hit 4X strategy game projected to surpass $100 million
Well Played
Phoenix Games makes UK studio Well Played its first acquisition
Leamington Spa developer is currently working on Warhammer Combat cards
Expansion
Esports organisation Immortals raises $30 million in funding
Firm also acquires Brazilian matchmaking platform Gamers Club
Studio Acquisition
Epic acquires Rocket League developer Psyonix
San Diego studio says deal boosts esports ambitions
Acquisition News
Keywords snaps up work-for-hire mobile development studio Wizcorp for $1m
Service provider expands footprint in Japan
Reach For The Sky
Animoca Brands picks up majority stake in CCG developer Skytree for $606k
Developer could work on F1, MLB, Bundesliga or Bayern Munich IPs
Going Public
Scientific Games subsidiary SciPlay files for IPO
Readies itself for potential acquisition spee; has entered into $150 million revolving credit facility
Busy Bees
Animoca raises $3.3 million and acquires German developer Stryking
Picks up studio initial $1.1m deal that could rise to $3.3m
Acquisition News
Jam City acquires Berlin studio 231 Play
Opens new Berlin studio where the team will operate from
Wild
Gamigo acquires casual games developer WildTangent
WildTanget’s portfolio features over 4,000 games including the Fate series
Born Again
Rising from the ashes: Former Flaregames CEO Klaas Kersting on why he’s founding Phoenix Games
“There’s a cyclical pattern of consolidation with every new platform, and we’re at the stage now with mobile where it’s more competitive and expensive than ever"
Moving On Up
Kabam snaps up Riposte Games & Co
Studio joining line-up of developers currently based in Vancouver, San Francisco and Austin
Acquisition News
GDC 2019: Unity acquires texture streaming tools firm Graphine
Company develops Granite toolset
Expanding
GDC 2019: InnoGames looking to acquire new mobile IP
First purchase was made in 2017 with Warlords of Aternum
Arsenal.gg Acquisition
Lightstream acquires livestreaming analytics platform Arsenal.gg
A number of game publishers and other companies are already part of Arsenal’s list of clients, including 505 Games, PUBG Corp, and Discord
Money
5th Planet Games lands $4.85 million in financing for future acquisitions
Hugo resurfaces with a new name and a renewed drive to buy, buy, buy
Acquisition Battle
Nexon shortlists five bidders including Kakao and Tencent
Formal bidding process starts in early April
Bidding Battle
Report: EA, Amazon and Comcast all submit acquisition bids for publisher Nexon
New challengers join a growing collection of suitors
Cloud
Keywords’ latest acquisition is Dutch UA tools provider GetSocial
Social networking platform is expected to become profitable for Keywords Studios by 2020
War Chest
THQ Nordic raises $225 million through share sale for further mergers and acquisitions
European publishing firm's M&A shows no sign of slowing down
Nexon-marble
Netmarble on Nexon acquisition: "With some leverage we could do the funding ourselves"
Been execs remain coy on exactly how a deal might be structured
Slice Of The Pie
Com2uS acquires 51.9 per cent stake in South Korean developers Day7
Developer is known for story-based games
The Saga Continues
Tencent joins Netmarble consortium in bid for Nexon
Deal could be made official as soon as February 21st
Back Of The Net
Miniclip acquires Head Ball 2 dev Masomo
Studio's flagship IP has racked up over 60 million downloads to date
Learn
Indian learning platform Byju’s buys out US games firm Osmo for $120 million
Osmo will help the online education firm craft learning content for younger students
China Vs South Korea
South Korea’s Kakao considers $9bn Nexon bid
Potentially one of the companies biggest acquisitions
Big Deal
Israel’s Taptica acquired US digital ads firm RhythmOne for $176 million
Deal expected to close in April, taking RhythmOne off the London Stock Exchange
Consolidation
UK's Sumo Digital acquires Red Kite Games
Follows purchases of CCP Newcastle and The Chinese Room in 2018
Nex-marble
Netmarble forming consortium to acquire Nexon
Serious contender for $9bn-valued publisher
Analytics
FanAI acquires esports analytics and middleware firm Waypoint Media
FanAI gains access to Waypoint Media’s range of trackers, data and APIs
Deal
Unity acquires games chat platform Vivox
Text and audio comms tool has been used in Fortnite, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, and League of Legends
Substance Deal
Adobe picks up Substance Designer firm Allegorithmic
Tools to be integrated into the creative cloud
Big Spender
Fortnite developer Epic acquires Agog Labs and 3Lateral
Company continues to splash its cash
Super Acquisition
Playtika continues M&A activity with purchase of casual card game dev Supertreat
Comes a month after Wooga deal
Heading North
Rebellion acquires Yorkshire studio TickTock Games
Developer to become Rebellion North
It’s Always Sunny
Keywords acquires marketing services outfit Sunny Side Up for $4.3m
Clients for Quebec City outfit include Ubisoft, EA and Eidos
Fresh Deal
Gameloft acquires SongPop trivia game maker FreshPlanet
CEO Mathieu Nouzareth will continue on in role
Check
Mobile acquisition and management firm Maple Media snaps up Banana & Co’s mobile games portfolio
Games include Checkers, Hearts, Mahjong Match! and Sudoku
Acquired
Mobile measurement company Adjust purchases Acquired.io
Acquired.io’s technology set to be fully integrated with Adjust by H2 2019