South Korean mobile game company Netmarble has announced that it is going to purchase 100% of shares of Hong Kong-based social casino games developer SpinX Games for $2.19B*
SpinX Games has generated $434m (₩497B) in revenue in 2020 and $288m (₩328.9B) in the first half of 2021. Based on the company’s financial performance in 2020, the deal’s multiple is 5x EV/Revenue
*Based on $1=₩1144,95 exchange rate
? Strategic Rationale
With SpinX Games, Netmarble diversifies its RPG-filled lineup by adding some successful social casino titles. With a broader variety of multi-genre games, Netmarble will bolster its position in the global mobile gaming market
The acquisition is by far one of the largest disclosed gaming M&A deals in the APAC region in 2021. Earlier this year, we saw $4B+ worth acquisition of Moonton by Bytedance’s subsidiary Nuverse and the announcement of $1.3B worth acquisition of Sumo Group by Tencent
? Product
SpinX Games has developed several social casino hit titles such as Jackpot World and Lotsa Slots. The games offer in-app purchases without having players gamble with real money
The company ranked third in global mobile social casino genre sales and is the fastest-growing company in the genre
In Jul’21 the company’s most downloaded titles were Jackpot World (over 784 thousand times), Vegas Friends (over 488 thousand times), and Lotsa Slots (over 402 thousand times)
SpinX’ games have been downloaded more than 65 million times with a peak of 3.7 million in Jan’20
Source:AppMagic
? Previous M&As
In Feb’21 Netmarble acquired US-based video game studio Kung Fu Factory, the developer of WWE Champions and NBA Ball Stars, for an undisclosed sum
In 2017 Netmarble purchased mobile game developer and publisher Kabam without disclosing the terms of the deal
