Caesars enhances social division with WSOP studio acquisition
Operator establishes Montreal-based social poker studio after buying out EA's stake in WSOP mobile social game
Caesars Interactive Entertainment has added poker to its social casino portfolio, taking full ownership of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) mobile and social games.
The operator has acquired a number of WSOP gaming assets and intellectual property from Electronic Arts, with the games developer transferring global rights to mobile and Facebook poker games to Caesars for an undisclosed sum.
The companies first teamed up to launch a free-to-play branded mobile game last July, with a WSOP Facebook app following in February this year.
A team of 19 developers, based in Montreal, have transferred from EA to Caesars as part of the deal to form a social poker development studio, which will be expanded as development of the WSOP app continues.
The deal is similar to last December’s acquisition of Bingo Blitz developer Buffalo Studios, in that the newly-formed social poker arm will act as an affiliate of Caesars’ core social brand, Playtika.
Before buying the WSOP app outright, social poker was the only core vertical lacking from the operator’s portfolio. Lack of a bingo offering was remedied through the Buffalo deal, adding to its existing Caesars Casino and Slotomania products.