Nazara has acquired Bluetile Games and BestPlay Systems for $303m

India-based gaming holding Nazara Technologies (NSE: NAZARA) has closed the acquisition of 100% of Spain-based mobile games developer Bluetile Games and its affiliated player-engagement platform BestPlay Systems for a fixed all-cash consideration of $303.0m. The two businesses became step-down subsidiaries with effect from Aug 3, 2026, and will consolidate from Q2’FY27. The consideration splits $223m for Bluetile and $80m for BestPlay. A first tranche of $89.5m has been paid in cash, with the balance of $214m due in three installments to be paid before April 2027.

The terms have been amended since the initial announcement in Mar’26. The new agreement replaces the old one outright. Nazara now buys both companies in full on day one, at a single fixed price, in cash.Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Nitish Mittersain gave the following reasons for changes in deal structure during the Q1’FY27 earnings call: 

• the targets’ trajectory made the investment committee expect earn-out payouts that “could go up to 180% of the committed payouts”;
• holding business-specific performance targets over an executive about to run the whole group “would cause some level of conflict and misalignment”;
• under the old structure “there would still be 50% leakage of the cash generated by Bluetile and BestPlay back to the founders, which in this case will now completely accrue to the group”.

 Bluetile, founded in Barcelona in 2019, runs 17 live casual and social titles, including Yatzy, Mahjong Voyage, Domino Legends and Spade Stars with 375 million lifetime downloads and 22 million monthly active users. BestPlay, founded in 2023, operates a discovery and cross-promotion platform with 2.2 million monthly active users. Combined CY25 turnover was $153.6m on $27.7m EBITDA, an 18% margin, putting the $303.0m consideration at 2.0x revenue and 10.9x EBITDA.

A large slice of that cash is reinvested straight back into the company. On Aug 6, 2026, Nazara’s board approved a preferential issue of up to 23,970,676 shares at $3.2 (INR 306) each, raising up to $77m (INR 733.5 crore), to be subscribed entirely by the founders and senior leadership of Bluetile and BestPlay. The six named allottees would take 5.87% of the enlarged capital, and none of them holds any Nazara stock today. It needs shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting on Aug 30, 2026. If it passes, roughly a quarter of the purchase price comes back to Nazara as equity.

The largest allottee is Bluetile founder Raymond Albaladejo Stauffer, who takes $61m of the issue for 4.67% and becomes Nazara’s Chief Executive Officer on Sep 1, 2026. Nazara states the position plainly: “Rather than receiving additional stock-based incentives in connection with his appointment as CEO, Raymond is backing his conviction in Nazara’s future with a substantial personal investment.” Nitish Mittersain would resign as CEO with effect from the same date and continue as Managing Director with responsibility for long-term strategy, portfolio direction and partnerships.

Nazara reported financial results for Q1’FY27 on Aug 3. Quarterly Revenue was $45.3m (INR 429 crore), down 14% YoY on the deconsolidation of India-based esports firm NODWIN Gaming from Aug’25 and up roughly 9% excluding it, with EBITDA of $4.9m (INR 46 crore) at a 10.8% margin against 9.5% a year earlier. The group swung to a net loss of $8.7m (INR 82.5 crore), mostly driven by associate losses and impairment charges related to its remaining real-money gaming exposure in India. The gaming segment grew 14% YoY to $29.1m (INR 275 crore) on EBITDA of $5.7m (INR 54 crore), a 19.5% margin, with every gaming business EBITDA-positive.

The scale of what has been bought is clearer against this backdrop: Bluetile and BestPlay turned over $54.8m (INR 518 crore) in Q1’FY27, more than the whole group’s $45.3m – and produced more EBITDA than the entire group did. The company set out the funding for the remaining $214m: roughly $20m of cash already on Bluetile’s balance sheet, operating cash flow from both groups, a component of debt, and potentially equity or stake sales. 

This is the largest acquisition in Nazara’s history, and it reshapes the group. A mid-cap Indian gaming holding has bought a business that out-earns the rest of the company, and hired its founder to run everything from Sep 1. Shareholders vote on the funding leg on Aug 30, 2026, and we will be watching closely how the two halves come together from Q2’FY27. Nazara shares closed at INR 352.85 on Aug 6, 2026, up 3.9% from the INR 339.55 close that preceded the announcements.