Your Gaming and Esports Update
Deals
Embracer Group Acquires Gearbox Entertainment
Texas-based Gearbox Entertainment was secured for an initial purchase price of $363M paid roughly equally in cash and newly issued shares, followed by a maximum earn-out consideration of $1.015B, with the full amount payable within six years providing the studio accumulates $1.3B in adjusted EBITDA over the period. Following the acquisition, Gearbox and its 550 employees will operate as an independent operating group under the Embracer Group umbrella, potentially acquiring further companies in the North American region under its marque.
Embracer Group Acquires Easybrain
Embracer Group reached an agreement to purchase Cyprus-based mobile developer Easybrain for an initial consideration of $640M, followed by a maximum earn-out consideration of $125M, payable within six years. Easybrain specializes in puzzle and logic titles monetized via advertising, including Sudoku.com. The studio, headquartered in Limassol, generated an estimated EBIT of $70M from revenue of $210M over the 2020 calendar year.
Embracer Group Acquires Aspyr Media
Austin-based Aspyr Media is set to be bought out for an initial sum of $100M, followed by an annual earn-out consideration up to a combined $350M subject to the firm’s financial performance over a seven-year period. According to statements from Embracer Group, Aspyr is currently working on a game development project budgeted at $70M, while the 200-strong firm is perhaps best known for porting titles in 2K Games’ Sid Meier’s Civilization series. Through 2020, Aspyr generated approximately $40.6M in revenue, from which it garnered $11.4M in operational EBIT.
Anzu.io Raises $9M
Tel Aviv-based in-game advertising platform Anzu.io has announced that it has secured USD$9m in venture funding, which will be primarily used to support the commercial growth of the company alongside its planned expansion to international markets including the US, Singapore, and China. The round was co-led by BITKRAFT Ventures and HBSE, with additional support from WPP; Sony Innovation Fund; Alumni Ventures Group; Gaingels; The Chicago Cubs; Goal Ventures; Marc Merrill (Riot Games); and Dylan Collins (SuperAwesome).
PlayStudios To Go Public via SPAC
Playstudios will be the next social casino game company to go public. In this deal, the company will raise money via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the second quarter. The SPAC deal will value Playstudios at $1.1 billion. Bloomberg first wrote about the rumored SPAC deal, and now the companies have confirmed it. The maker of the MyVegas slots and blackjack social casino games has struck a deal with Acies Acquisition Corp., a SPAC on Nasdaq that has former MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren as its chairman. The deal is one of many in the game industry where competitors are taking advantage of the popularity of games during the pandemic to raise more money or acquire companies.
Stillfront Group Acquires Moonfrog
Swedish video game holding company Stillfront Group has entered the Indian market via the acquisition of Bangalore-based studio Moonfrog Labs for an initial $90M, which will be followed by three additional EBITDA-tied considerations payable yearly until the close of 2023. Moonfrog, best known for board and social card games such as Teen Patti Gold and Ludo Club, generated unaudited net revenue of $21M and adjusted EBITDA of $12M through the nine months ended 30th September 2020, representing respective increases of 7% and 10% for total Stillfront figures.
Mountaintop Raises $5.5M
Headed by Oculus cofounder Nate Mitchell, Mountaintop has raised $5.5 million for a player-vs.-player first-person shooter game. The seed round comes from an unidentified group of investors, friends, and family. Mitchell’s cofounders include Matt Hansen, a former chief operating officer at Double Fine; Rich Lyons, formerly a developer at Naughty Dog and Vigil; and Mark Terrano, a former creative director at Oculus and cofounder at Hidden Path.
Candivore Raises $12M
Candivore has raised $12 million to fund growth for the company’s games such as Match Masters, a mobile match-3 puzzler. The mobile game combines match-3 gameplay with a competitive player-vs.-player twist. The title has more than a million monthly active users who play more than five million daily matches. Match-3 games like Candy Crush Saga are the most prominent subgenre in the U.S. iPhone game market, accounting for 21% of the market’s revenue, according to mobile game insight and analytics firm GameRefinery.
Updates
Amazon’s Jassy Says He’s Committed to Making Video Games
One day before he was named the next chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., Andy Jassy reaffirmed his commitment to making video games while acknowledging the stark challenges the team has faced, according to an email to staff reviewed by Bloomberg. Jassy expressed support for Mike Frazzini, the head of Amazon Game Studios and the subject of a Bloomberg profile last week examining the troubles the company has faced in gaming. The story was based on interviews with more than 30 current or former Amazon employees.
Google Shuts Down Stadia Development Houses
Google has announced the closure of its Stadia Games and Entertainment development houses in Montréal and Los Angeles, impacting approximately 150 employees. Instead of developing titles for its cloud gaming platform in-house, the tech giant is instead opting to work directly with third-party publishers in a climb-down in its attempts to launch a rival to traditional video game consoles.
60 Oculus Quest Games Have Generated $1M
Facebook’s Oculus division has picked up momentum, and the company said more 60 virtual reality games and apps on the Oculus Quest VR headset platform have generated more than $1 million in revenue. In a blog post, Facebook Reality Labs’ Mike Verdu said that six titles have generated more than $10 million in revenue on the Quest platform, which includes the Oculus Quest and the Oculus Quest 2 wireless VR headsets.
Call of Duty had its Best Year Yet
As part of its earnings report today, Activision Blizzard revealed that the Call of Duty had its strongest year ever in 2020. The series had over 100 million monthly average players during the year, and net bookings were at about double what they were in 2019. Call of Duty: Black Ops — Cold War then debuted in November and, as is usual for the franchise, became a giant hit. Activision Blizzard notes that premium unit sales (meaning sales of full-priced games like Modern Warfare and Black Ops — Cold War) grew 40% year-over-year.
