Zynga makes $250m mobile games acquisition
San Francisco-based firm agrees deal for Gram Games and its 3 million mobile daily active users
Zynga has acquired European mobile games developer Gram Games for $250m cash and a three-year earn out based on the team’s achievements.
As part of the deal Zynga acquires Gram’s two studios in Istanbul and London, as well as its portfolio of nine games which have collectively been downloaded more than 170 million times.
According to Zynga the acquisition brings a “talented team with a proven track record of developing highly engaging mobile games across multiple genres played by millions of people daily”.
“We’ve been impressed by the unique culture that Gram Games has created, as well as their innovative approach to game making,” said Frank Gibeau, Zynga CEO.
“By acquiring Gram Games, we’re expanding our portfolio of live game franchises, while also adding a number of exciting new starts to our pipeline of future games. In particular, we’re huge fans of Merge Dragons! and believe it has the potential to be a new forever franchise for Zynga.”
Gram Games’ live game portfolio is anchored by Merge Dragons! – which launched less than a year ago and broke into the Top 50 Grossing Game charts in the US Apple App Store.
The acquisition grows Zynga’s audience by 3 million mobile daily active users (DAU), and also expands Zynga’s new game pipeline.
Zynga also said it would keep on all 77 existing Gram staff members.
“Gram Games helped define the hyper-casual genre with games like 1010! and Six!, and we continued to grow our footprint with Merge Dragons!,” said Kaan Karamanci, co-founder of Gram Games.
“We look forward to marrying our unique approach to game making with Zynga’s live services expertise to grow our games and continue to delight millions of players around the world.”
The acquisition of Gram Games reportedly aligns with Zynga’s strategic priorities to “grow its live services, create new forever franchises and build out its capabilities on emerging platforms”.
The San Francisco-based firm said it will apply its live services expertise to grow the Gram Games portfolio through “innovative bold beats that deepen engagement with existing and new players”.
Zynga shares climbed 2% in early trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange.