Buying Spree
Stillfront M&A head Marina Andersson on making the perfect acquisition
Discussing a very busy 2020
Splash The Cash
Report: Microsoft among companies looking to buy Discord
Chat platform is apparently up for sale with a $10 billion price tag
Welcome Aboard
Brian Chadwick joins Agnitio Capital as managing director
"I have long admired Agnitio Capital and Shum Singh"
Such Discipline
Take-Two says it lost Codemasters to EA due to its "disciplined approach"
CEO and chair Zelnick admits that it was "disappointing" to not snap up the UK racing specialist
Done Deal
Tencent secured 31 games-based deals in 2020
"Tencent is in no danger of losing its No.1 position in the games market, but it is beginning to feel some pressure"
Money Money Money
$33.6 billion was spent on games industry investments last year
$12.6 billion came from M&As
Splash The Cash
Embracer acquires A Thinking Ape and 11 other games studios
Company now operates 58 developers
Big Money
Codemasters agrees to sell to Take-Two
Racing firm goes to the GTA parent company for close to $1bn
Fast Mover
Zynga buys hypercasual outfit Rollic for $168 million
All-cash deal gains 80% equity
10 Years On
Disney enters social gaming battle with $763 million Playdom deal
The Mouse is in sharing mode
Master The Meta
Master the Meta: China's crackdown, new EU rules, and $7.8 billion of deals
News and insights from the Master the Meta team
Eat Or Be Eaten
Despite $1.8 billion Peak deal, Zynga isn't 'acquisition-ed out'
President of publishing Bernard Kim on a hungry beast
Better Together
Twitter acquires playable ad outfit CrossInstall
Building a strong monetisation channel
Candy Land
Stillfront Group acquires BitLife developer Candywriter for $74 million
Total deal worth up to $195 million including earn-out bonuses
Licensing Not Publishing
Disney reportedly looking to offload Marvel Strike Force developer FoxNext Games
House of the mouse no longer interested in game development
Top Dog
How Zynga used M&A and forever franchises to become the world's number one mobile games company
"Personally, this is actually a quest that I’ve been going after since my days at EA Mobile"
Finland Report
Finland's transformation from games start-up capital to mobile heavyweight
Ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on October 1st and 2nd 2019, we take a look at the current state of the Finnish games industry and how it's changed
M&a
THQ Nordic acquires Milestone, Gunfire Games and Goodbye Kansas Game Invest
Racing specialist Milestone, Darksiders maker Gunfire and investment firm Goodbye Kansas Game join the European publisher firm's portfolio
Fund Raise
Update: Stillfront Group to raise $53 million from directed share issue; seeks up to $106m from bond loan
Company wants to add cash to its M&A warchest
Still Going Strong
Stillfront Group plots further M&A as profits double in 2018
"We are staffing up for more M&A activity and remain as confident as ever in our screening process and post-acquisition strategies"
Rapid Growth
IronSource claims $900m run-rate for 2019 as it eyes up acquisitions and IPO
Big year ahead for the ad tech firm
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
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"
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
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
$$$
Report: Tencent's 2018 was the firm's best ever for investments
122 of the 700-plus companies the Chinese tech and entertainment giant has invested in worth over $1bn
Acquisition Strike
Japanese developer Mixi partners with XTech to accelerate M&A plans
Partnership could see expenditure of up to $271 million
Nex-marble
Netmarble forming consortium to acquire Nexon
Serious contender for $9bn-valued publisher
$$$$$
Report: Global games company investment more than doubled to $5.7bn in 2018
More than double the year prior
For Sale?
Chinese owner of RuneScape developer Jagex considers sale of RuneScape developer
Company bullish that MMO, mobile and publishing initiatives will continue to fuel further growth despite news
Super Acquisition
Playtika continues M&A activity with purchase of casual card game dev Supertreat
Comes a month after Wooga deal
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: Agnitio Capital MD Shum Singh to discuss Stillfront's rise and industry consolidation
Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd
More Is More
Despite spending over $1 billion Zynga’s M&A activity isn’t over yet
CEO Frank Gibeau is unsated
Bold Buy
Zynga buys Empires & Puzzles dev Small Giant Games in deal worth over $700 million
Finnish indie snapped up
Big Deal
Social casino giant Playtika acquires Pearl’s Peril dev Wooga
German studio finds a buyer after self-proclaimed 'tough two years'
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
Globe Trotting
Yoozoo VP on finding the next great games market and the importance of localisation
“It’s down to them because games publishing and making there will be very different to how they are in China”
Lineage Of Ips
Netmarble on Lineage 2 Revolution's runaway success and finding the next big hit
Simon Sim talks up the company's global strategy and M&A activity
Acquisitions With Friends?
Report: Zynga attracts takeover interest
Developer has received preliminary approaches but no formal talks have taken place, sources claim
Road To Investments
Scopely swoops for Glu’s Rob Ricca to lead M&A activity
Rob Ricca previously led M&A at Glu Mobile, during which time it purchased Crowdstaf and Plain Vanilla
Playing The End Game
It’s raised another $100 million but where next for Scopely?
Looking for the perfect combination
M&a
Tencent-backed Chinese developer Seasun eyes Western partnerships
JX Online studio set to wrap up US investment
Be Careful What You Wish For
The madness and method of Supercell’s M&A philosophy
A double-edged sword
Cash Royale
Supercell invests $5 million in US mobile developer Redemption Games
Deal marks first M&A activity outside of Europe
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
The Magic Number
Frank Gibeau on why Zynga’s $250 million acquisition of Gram Games adds up
Riding Merge Dragons! to success
What's Next?
Monster Strike publisher Mixi plots $900m investment in biz dev and M&A over next five years
$100 million earmarked for Monster Strike and new IP development
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