Acquisition
Game of Whales acquires tracking app Appstatics
AI-powered tool acquires tracking app on its way to becoming a fully automated management platform
Takeover
FoxNext among assets purchased in Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox
Games division one of the “key assets” acquired by the big mouse
Ticket To Buy
PAI Partners in talks to buy Catan maker Asmodee for $1.4 billion
Company set for international expansion if sale goes through
Machine Learning
Keywords snaps up predictive analytics outfit Yokozuna Data from Silicon Studio in $1.5m deal
Draws on AI and machine learning tech
Snowed Under
Keywords snaps up Canada's Snowed In Studios
Part of the services giant's new engineering line
All Aboard
Chinese publisher NetEase picks up minority stake in UK studio Jumpship
Developer plans to double team of six over the next year
Big Deal
China’s iQIYI acquires developer Skymoons in deal worth up to $300 million
Online video platform hopes to utilise IP across mediums
Victory
Investment company Victory Square snaps up venture fund V2 Games
Pacific Rim: Breach Wars soft-launched in the US back in April
Seismic Acquisition
Pokemon Go dev Niantic acquires Marvel Strike Force developer Seismic Games
Studio to craft new augmented reality experiences
Invested
Equity firm KKR & Co purchases $400m minority stake in mobile marketing platform Applovin
Deal increases the marketing platform’s value to $2 billion
First Strike
Tropico dev Kalypso acquires classic Commandos IP
Plans to develop new games in the franchise, remaster old titles for new hardware
Chat Up
Warner Bros. acquires mobile games communication platform Plexchat
"Advancing the social aspect of our mobile games is a top priority for us"
Toying Around
EA snags Industrial Toys
The mobile development studio is headed up by former Bungie CEO Alex Seropian
Handy Deal
THQ Nordic picks up German developer HandyGames
Giebelstadt-based studio to act as international publisher for small to mid-sized projects and devs
Quizzed
Indian publisher Nazara acquires minority stake in quiz studio Crimzoncode
Partnership will see Nazara publish the studio’s flagship quiz title in emerging markets
Acquisition
Pokemon Go developer Niantic acquires London-based machine learning outfit Matrix Mill
AI research outfit join the augmented reality giant
Winner
Report: PUBG developer Bluehole snaps up mobile studio Delusion Studio
The terms of the deal are currently unknown
Winner Winner
Report: Tencent set to acquire 10% of PUBG developer Bluehole for $500 million
Sale is not intended to raise capital for Bluehole but instead is a chance for early investors to cash out
Eyes On Korea
Why Seasun and other Chinese developers are expanding their influence over South Korea's mobile market
Seasun Games overseas business development director Zhen Li tells us why Chinese games are so popular in South Korea
Be Careful What You Wish For
The madness and method of Supercell’s M&A philosophy
A double-edged sword
Talent Scout
Keywords Studios acquires the Hollywood talent outfit Blindlight
Sunset strip studio specialises in getting game publishers in touch with Hollywood creatives
M&a Warchest
Keywords gets access to more than $120 million to fund further acquisitions
Services provider has bought four companies in 2018 so far
Microhub
Microsoft acquires GitHub for $7.5 billion
Announcement could be made as early as Monday, June 4th
Destined To Be Partners
Destiny developer Bungie could be set for mobile push following $100m investment from NetEase
US studio could be set to explore the mobile games market
Smokin
Keywords Studios purchases Fire Without Smoke for $6.9 million
Creative and marketing services company joins Keywords’ expanding roster of assets
The Magic Number
Frank Gibeau on why Zynga’s $250 million acquisition of Gram Games adds up
Riding Merge Dragons! to success
It's Pickle Pixel
Adult Swim buys London-based Pocket Mortys developer Big Pixel Studios
Network plans to increase investment in the games space
Whoot!
Alien Path publisher iCandy buys Indonesian Hollywhoot developer Joyseed
Deal worth up to $263,000
Acquisition News
Dutch firm OrangeGames acquires majority stake in Habbo Hotel dev Sulake
Former owner Elisa retains minority stake
Acquisition From The Deep
G5 Entertainment picks up hidden object IPs Nightmares from the Deep and Kate Malone for $600,000
Performance payouts could add further $500k to deal
Majority Stake
Mail.RU acquires 51% stake in Russian Guild of Heroes dev Bit.Games
Developer making $1 million-plus a month from hit title
Head Of The Pack
Tencent leads the way in $22 billion spent on games deals in last 12 months
The internet giant participated in over $4 of every $10 invested in games companies and was involved in over three-quarters of all games M&A
Blam!
Nordcurrent acquires Ukrainian studio Blam Games
Team of 40 joins Cooking Fever publisher
Education
Chinese developer NetDragon buys online learning community Edmodo for $138 million
Deal paid via a combination of cash and shares of an affiliated education company
M&a
Keywords expands audio services with three acquisitions
Spending spree continues
Acquisition News
AppScatter to acquire mobile app intelligence platform Priori Data in $19m deal
Purchase expected to be completed by May 15th 2018
Joining The Band
Publishing giant Netmarble picks up stake in K-pop label Big Hit Entertainment for $190m
Becomes the second largest shareholder
New Games Platform?
Snapchat snaps up UK cloud-based HTML5 game engine PlayCanvas
Could it be eyeing up instant games for the platform?
Moving Day
Outsourcing specialist Virtuos eyes acquisitions after raising $15 million
The development studio also hopes to double in size over the next three years
Sweet Deal
Jam City acquires Colombian World War Doh developer Brainz
Publisher expanding into real-time strategy development
Sweet Deal?
Why did Ubisoft acquire a developer of narrative-focused vampire romance games?
Charting 1492 Studio's Is It Love? series
Big Deal
Influencer-led DoubleJump Games acquires mobile developer TinyMob
Further acquisitions and publishing deals on the cards
Hot Story
Ubisoft acquires 1492 Studio to get in on mobile interactive fiction craze
Publisher brings in Is it love? series to its widening mobile portfolio
Qualcomm Fights Back
Qualcomm ups bid for NXP Semiconductors to $44 billion to fend off Broadcom acquisition
The increased price has Broadcom "evaluating its options"
Unity Probuilder
Unity acquires level design and prototyping tool ProBuilder
Developers can now use ProBuilder, Polybrush and ProGrids directly within Unity
Clash Of Giants
Semiconductor giant Broadcom secures $100 billion for mega Qualcomm bid
Potential $121 billion deal would be the technology sector's biggest ever
Thq Nordic Buys Koch Media
THQ Nordic snaps up Deep Silver owner Koch Media in deal worth $196 million
No changes to happen at either company
Indian Esports Push
ESL takes minority stake in Indian games publisher Nazara
Also agrees mutli-year licence agreement with esports company Nodwin Gaming
Tencent Invests In Shanda
Updated: Tencent invests $476 million in previous China market leader Shanda Games
Size of stake still unknown
Hot Purchase
Hong Kong publisher Animoca Brands acquires Finnish studio Tribeflame
Deal worth up to $433,000