Zplay Buys Noodlecake
ZPlay acquires indie game developer and publisher Noodlecake Studios for $4.9 million
Helps the Candian developer push further into Asia with no changes to the business
Keywords Buys More Studios
Keywords Studios acquires four Paris-based localisation studios for $8.9 million
La Marque Rose, Dune Sound, Around the Word, and Asrec will all be rolled into one
Investment Spark
Report: Amazon bought UK cloud tech firm GameSparks for $10 million
Retail and tech giant remains tight-lipped on deal
Keywords Financials H1 Fy17
Keywords posts revenues of $74.7 million so far in 2017 thanks to aggressive acquisition strategy
Profits up to $11.3 million
Ready To Rumble
Take-Two to focus on WWE and NBA mobile games following Social Point acquisition
Might move on if these games perform well
Gfinity Acquires Cevo
Gfinity pushes into US by acquiring eSports tech firm CEVO for $2.7 million
Solidifying its place on the global scene
Stillfront acquires German sports management game OnlineFussballManager
Also agrees publishing deal with Digamore Entertainment for Football Empire
Acquiring Ua
N3twork buys Eric Seufert’s user acquisition tool Agamemnon
Seufert also joins company to lead its new suite of tools and services
From Partner To Owner
Taptica cements position in Japan by acquiring marketing firm Adinnovation
Partnership leads to complete acquisition
Ar Next
Next Games pushes into AR and location-based games with Lume Games acquisition
Also sees revenues up 52% to $22.6 million
Fulfilling The Vision
InnoGames on finishing what Wooga started with Warlords
Studio Director Philip Bang on the project so far
Next In Line
Line launches games publishing division after NextFloor acquisition
NextFloor CEO Min Kyu Kim to head up new unit
Sparks Fly
Amazon buys UK cloud development platform GameSparks
Deal said to be worth "tens of millions of pounds"
Acquisition Of Dragons
Chinese developer NetDragon buys LA educational games studio JumpStart
Plans to utilise IP and partnership with Dreamworks
Swooping
UK developer Sumo acquires design studio Atomhawk
Art company to remain independent following deal
Super Space Ape
“I’ve always struggled to imagine ourselves anywhere else”: Space Ape CEO on Supercell deal
John Earner discusses why the London studio turned down other offers to partner with the most successful mobile games developer in the world
Southeast Asian Intent
Nexon completes iDCC acquisition to establish Nexon Thailand
Builds upon 49% stake and established Southeast Asian presence
Future Plans
"More growth, more platforms, broader presence": Kongregate on its post-acquisition strategy
MTG has snapped up the publisher, but what's next?
Sneaky Purchase
Samsung quietly acquires mobile VR developer VRB for a reported $5.5 million
Increasing internal Gear VR development
Mtg Acquires Kongregate
Modern Times Group to acquire casual games publisher Kongregate for $55 million
Kongregate pushing further into developing its own games by acquiring other studios
Tencent Eyeing Rovio
Report: Tencent considers Rovio acquisition in deal worth $3 billion
Either that or Rovio is going to IPO
War Chest
Walking Dead: Road to Survival publisher Scopely raises $60 million to fund acquisitions and partnerships
Comes a year after company raised $55 million in Series B financing round
Brighter Future
Silicon Studio acquires real-time global illumination tool Enlighten from ARM subsidiary Geomerics
Where does that leave Geomerics?
Lean And Learning
eRepublik Labs on its plans to innovate mobile MMOs after $8.4 million acquisition
CEO Alexis Bonte sets out his ambitions
Level Up
Level-5 acquires Keiji Inafune's studio Comcept
Currently developing mobile title Dragon Colonies
Risky Businesses
As the mouse leaves the game stage, enters a fox
Will FoxNext perform better than Disney Interactive?
Next Sale
FoxNext acquires former Kabam team at Aftershock
Aaron Loeb appointed President of Studios for FoxNext Games
Business News
Stillfront swoops for Dublin developer eRepublik Labs for €7.5 million
Deal could cost a further €13 million in earn outs
Maximum Leverage
Why Tencent’s M&A strategy is smarter than gotta buy ‘em all
Second Pocket Gems deal was beginning of the end
Out Of This World
Supercell acquires 62% stake in UK mobile games studio Space Ape for $55.8 million
New future beckons for successful London developer valued at $90 million
Hot Deal
Keywords splashes $6 million on Asian art services provider Red Hot CG
Picks up new offices in China and Indonesia
Yep, Another One
Keywords Studios' acquisition spree continues with $4.8 million acquisition of GameSim
$3.2 million in cash, the rest in shares
Owlchemy Acquired
Google acquires Job Simulator VR developer Owlchemy Labs for undisclosed sum
No changes to the studio, but it'll probably work on Daydream games
(x)locked In
Keywords Studios continues spending spree by acquiring CMS developer XLOC for $900,000
Providing efficient localisation across all major game engines
Mtg Takes Over
MTG spends $90 million to increase InnoGames stake to 51% majority
Entire acquisition has so far cost MTG over €130 million
Vivendi Ubisoft Takeover
Report: Vivendi sets eyes on takeover bid for Ubisoft by end of 2017
Needs to show investors that they have no need to worry
Cents For Seasun
Tencent acquires 9.9% stake in Chinese mobile games developer Seasun for $142 million
Deal made in two parts by subsidiary Image Frame Investment
New Lands
Frogmind discusses life after Supercell’s majority acquisition
Moving from premium to free-to-play
Big Bet
South Korea’s DoubleU Games splashes $825 million on social casino dev Double Down
London firm IGT sees a $325 million profit from previous buyout
War Chest
Netmarble plots $4.4 billion acquisition spending spree after May 2017 IPO
Mobile games publisher goes public on May 12th
An Unexpected Match
Appodeal on its plans for Corona and why more ad companies could enter the game engine fray
Why did the ad mediation firm buy a 2D game engine developer?
Icandy Acquisition
iCandy Interactive acquires Singapore mobile dev Inzen for $4.4 million to gain access to China market
Inzen gains access to iCandy's 17 million players too
Nicalis Acquisitions
Nicalis picks up SuperVillain Studios and Cowboy Color to expand development capabilities
SuperVillain absorbed into Nicalis' internal development team
Spicerack Acquisition
Casino firm Scientific Games acquires social bingo developer Spicerack
Cost of the deal was undisclosed
Key Deals
Acquisition spree spurred Keywords revenues up 67% to €97 million in 2016
Services provider bought eight companies last year
Return To Sender
Fishy consortium enables Supercell to pull-off reverse Tencent takeover
Audacious timing for ambitious move
Grab A Corona
Appodeal snaps up 2D game engine developer Corona Labs
Opening up its Enterprise pricing tier for free
Zynga Solitaire
Zynga acquires four Solitaire games from little-known developer for $42.5 million
Harpan LLC just made a killing
Same Philosophy
Pixonic on maintaining its quality-first ethos after Mail.Ru's $30 million acquisition
Don't treat your players like the enemy, says COO Igor Klyukin
Talking Acquisitions
Chinese chemical firm back in for $1 billion Talking Tom developer Outfit7 after missing out first time around
Second sale on the cards