14 DEC 2020
Electronic Arts Outbids Take-Two’s Acquisition Offer For Codemasters

M&A
08 FEB 2021
EA Acquires Glu Mobile For $2.1B

M&A
💵 Acquisition
- US-based multiplatform entertainment company Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) acquires Golf Clash developer and publisher Playdemic Ltd. from WarnerMedia’s subsidiary TT Games for $1.4B in cash
- WarnerMedia divested Playdemic as part of its plan to focus on games based on Warner Bros. IPs
🎬 Playdemic’s History
- Playdemic was founded in 2010 with a focus on Facebook gaming platform
- In January 2011, the company was acquired by RockYou, the US-based mobile game publisher that focuses on building in-game ad networks. However, later that year RockYou faced financial difficulties and the founders of Playdemic decided to buy their company back
- In February 2017, TT Games, the UK-based company known for its video games based on the Lego franchise, announced the acquisition of Playdemic to accelerate the mobile market expansion
💠 Strategic Rationale
- Earlier this year EA acquired US-based mobile game developer Glu Mobile for $2.1B, which broadened the company’s mobile games portfolio with such sports titles as Tap Sports Baseball, Deer Hunter, and Tap Sports Fishing as well as some casual games and some others
- Playdemic will help EA to expand further into the mobile gaming market with a new Golf clash sports game. Currently, the mobile business generates ~13% of the EA’s revenue
- Playdemic’s executive team will provide EA with expertise in mobile clash games. The clash mechanic that Playdemic specializes in may be introduced into other EA games in the future
🎲 Product
- Founded in 2010, Playdemic is best known for its 1v1 sports game Golf Clash which has over 80 million downloads globally
- The downloads peaked in August 2017 when the game was downloaded 2.8 million times
- Golf Clash is among the leading mobile games in the sports genre in the U.S. and the U.K.
- Since its launch, the game has amassed over $780m in player spending. In the last year, Golf Clash’s gross revenue reached approximately $185m
💸 EA’s Latest Acquisitions
- Playdemic is Electronic Arts’ fourth major acquisition in the past seven months:
- In May’21, EA announced the acquisition of a Canada-based PC&console game developer Metalhead Software. The sum of the deal remains undisclosed
- In Feb’21 EA acquired US-based mobile game developer Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU) for $2.1B
- In Dec’20, EA entered into an agreement to acquire UK-based racing games developer Codemasters Group (LON: CDM) for up to $1.2B. The deal was closed in Feb’21.
- Recently EA entered top-5 Most Active Strategic Investors in Q1,21 according to Investgame ratings
Sources: EA
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