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
Grow Up
Ubisoft acquires massively-multiplayer sandbox game Growtopia
Already has 20 million registered users
New Waters
Sega buys Crytek Black Sea and renames it Creative Assembly Sofia
Team of 60 to work with UK developer on slate of unannounced games
Deal Tracker
Deal Tracker 2017: All the biggest M&A activity and deals in the mobile games industry
Monthly breakdowns of the big games industry deals and what they mean
Netmarble Acquires Kabam
Netmarble closes acquisition of Kabam Vancouver and Marvel: Contest of Champions
Will run Kabam as a wholly-owned subsidiary
Join The Corps
Swedish developer Gaming Corps pivots to acquisition strategy following $10 million investment
Bought one studio, now wants to buy more
Managed By Maple
Mobile acquisition and management firm Maple Media raises $30 million
Shamrock Capital gives a healthy cash injection
Uk Team-up
How a shared culture led to Outplay acquiring Eight Pixels Square
What is the future for the UK's biggest indie mobile studio?
Mobile Mavens
Why did Take-Two buy Social Point?
What's the motivation for the $250 million deal?
Right Partner Right Time
Take-Two CEO says Social Point "addresses all of our concerns" about mobile market
Strauss Zelnick on why the publisher made its push into free-to-play on mobile
Supercell Acquisitions
Supercell's Ilkka Paananen says "it's no secret" that the studio is looking at further acquisitions
Also talks about how Pokemon affected sales
Another Keywords Acquisition
Keywords continues acquisition spree with $1.5 million purchase of animation studio Spov
London-based animation studio joins the ranks
Building For Mobile
TT Games acquires Golf Clash developer Playdemic to make LEGO mobile games
UK studio snapped up after generating over $50 million in revenue
Take Point
Take-Two acquires Spanish mobile developer Social Point for $250 million
$175 million in cash, the rest in shares
Next Razer
Razer acquires cloud-focused smartphone manufacturer Nextbit
Looking forward to disrupting more technologies
Confirmed Deal
King buys analytics company Omniata
Terms not disclosed
Money To Burn
Chinese chemical firm acquires Talking Tom developer Outfit7 for €1 billion
Developer put up for sale in late 2016
Acquisition News
Microsoft snaps up 3D optimisation tool Simplygon
Firm aims to make tech more accessible for studios
Stream Sports
Azubu acquires rival eSports streaming service Hitbox and plans to launch mobile-focused platform
Hitbox couldn't be happier
Marmalade Saved
GMO Cloud acquires exclusive rights to Marmalade SDK and plans further development
Not dead yet
More Keywords Acquisitions
Keywords Studios keeps on acquiring and picks up Sonox Audio Solutions for €650,000
Merging it with other studios in Spain
Self-help
Book publisher Hachette Livre acquires majority stake in Peak developer Brainbow
Diversification is key
Pick Up Quizup
Glu Mobile picks up QuizUp developer Plain Vanilla in deal worth $8.7 million
Takes advantage of deal established in January
Imploding
Kabam looking to sell off the rest of its studios following Netmarble sale
Including Los Angeles, Beijing, and San Francisco studios
Explosive Deal
Netmarble acquires Kabam’s Vancouver studio and picks up Marvel Contest of Champions
Also picks up customer support, marketing, biz dev and UA teams in Austin and San Francisco
Perfect Fit
MobilityWare on why it bought Critical Hit Software and its ambitions for 2017
Why the card game specialist picked up Jigsaw Puzzle dev
Big Deal
Swedish firm Stillfront acquires MENA publisher Babil Games in deal worth up to $17 million
Stillfront aims to expand its presence in the region
Investing In Outsourcing
Starbreeze acquires Indian developer Dhruva Interactive for $8.5 million
Dhruva to continue offering work-for-hire services to external studios
It's About Time
Google acquires smartwatch platform developer founded by ex-Google staff Cronologics
Bringing them home
Outplay Squared
UK's largest independent mobile developer Outplay acquires Raid HQ studio Eight Pixels Square
Bumps employee count to over 190
Keep It Casual
MobilityWare picks up casual developer Critical Hit Software for its Jigsaw Puzzle and ColorArt titles
Casual developer acquires casual developer
Business Deals
Deal Tracker: Big money deals in China, HTML5, chat apps and fashion games in November 2016
37 Interactive splashes nearly $200 million on acquisitions
The New Thq
THQ Nordic gears up for Nintendo Switch launch with three old IP acquistions
Remember Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy?
Wargaming Helsinki
Wargaming acquires Finnish studio Boomlagoon to fuel its ambitions of being a "dominant" force in mobile games
Helsinki studio aims to hire new staff and expand portfolio
Expansion Is Key
Keywords Studios continues acquisition streak by snapping up Enzyme Testings Labs for $3.65 million
Will fit nicely with fellow recent acquisition Player Research
Hit Deal
Nexon acquires 49% stake in Thai games publisher iDCC as it plots Southeast Asia expansion
Free-to-play gaming giant to increase marketing activity in the region following the deal
Ch-ch-changes
Glu Mobile appoints new CEO and acquires control of Covet: Fashion dev Crowdstar for $45 million
Revenues fall to $51.4 million as publisher sets out new changes
Key Players
Keywords Studios acquires user testing firm Player Research for up to $1.6 million
£700,000 in cash, 65,000 shares
Cash Royale
Chinese investors raise $850 million to fund Tencent's Supercell acquisition
Another big money deal to support Supercell purchase
Loan Royale
Report: Tencent taking $3.5 billion loan for Supercell deal
Chinese firm seeks bank support for big money deal