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
Strategy
PlayRaven leaves Eve: War of Ascension to CCP after joining Rovio’s flock
CCP London will take over the development of the galactic MMO tie-in
Big Deal
Social casino giant Playtika acquires Pearl’s Peril dev Wooga
German studio finds a buyer after self-proclaimed 'tough two years'
Joining The Flock
Angry Birds creator Rovio snaps up Finnish dev PlayRaven
Rovio claims the move will help them strengthen their presence in strategy games
All In
Who could be top dog in the fight to acquire Zynga?
We speculate on the potential suitors if any deal were to take place
Deal Space
World of Tanks dev Wargaming snaps up UK's Fractured Space studio Edge Case Games
32-person team working on an unannounced new MMO IP
On Tap
Tapjoy on Tapdaq acquisition: “We hadn't found the right combination of great team and differentiated tech until now”
Tapjoy SVP of strategy, corporate and business development fills us in on the decision to acquire mediation platform Tapdaq
Out
Goodgame founders relinquish leadership positions following Stillfront deal
Doctors Kai and Christian Wawrzinek to focus on new roles as Stillfront shareholders
Tap Tap
Tapjoy acquires ad mediation and app monetisation platform Tapdaq
Tapdaq by Tapjoy will team up with its new owner’s London office to work on its Maximum Impact Platform
Acquisition Reality
Admix buys media site VRFocus and aims to rehire staff
Publication looked set to close earlier this month when all employees were laid off
Double Trouble
THQ Nordic acquires Goat Simulator dev Coffee Stain and Wreckfest maker Bugbear
A steady string of purchases leave the publisher in a strong end-of-quarter position
Brains
Live ops specialist DECA Games acquires Zombie Catchers from Helsinki's Two Men and a Dog
The game's original Finnish developer will move on to developing new titles
Tech
Swedish games studio Bublar Group acquires VR/AR outfit Vobling for $5.5 million
Stockholm-based mixed reality developer will use the increased size to push production on next year's Hello Kitty AR project