Israel-based mobile games developer Playtika (NASDAQ: PLTK) has entered into an agreement to acquire Israel-based mobile games developer SuperPlay for up to $2B. The deal is expected to close in Q4’24.
The $2B sum of the deal is comprised of:
— $700m of upfront consideration;
— a potential $1.25B earn-out over the next three years based on the company’s revenue and adj. EBITDA performance;
— $50m retention payment.
SuperPlay is a mobile games developer founded in 2019 by former Playtika employees Gilad Almog and Eyal Netzer, alongside ex-Rovio’s Elad Drory. The studio has a portfolio of two successful projects: a coin looter, Dice Dreams, and a boar game, Domino Dreams. According to the press release, both games collectively boast over 1.7 million average daily active users as of Aug’24.
Dice Dreams, the company’s main revenue driver, has made over $328m of IAP revenue since its release in Aug’19, according to AppMagic. Today, the game is making over $17m monthly and is the third-best-grossing game in its casual genre after Monopoly Go and Coin Master.
Source: AppMagic
Interestingly, fourth place in the casual casino genre is held by Animals & Coins — another game Playtika acquired along with its developer, Innplay Labs, just a year ago.
Domino Dreams, SuperPlay’s latest title, was launched in Nov’22 and has already generated over $29m in lifetime IAP revenue. Notably, $4.7m of that came in Aug’24 alone, highlighting the game’s active scaling phase.
The acquisition of SuperPlay isn’t just Playtika’s largest deal to date — it also ranks among the Top 10 mobile gaming M&As of all time.
Source: InvestGame data
The reasons behind the acquisition align with the strategy we highlighted in our analysis of Playtika’s previous deal. At a time when launching new titles is an incredibly challenging and risky endeavor, acquiring prosperous, growing companies is one of the best ways to expand the business. Once the deal closes, Playtika can leverage its vast resources and expertise to scale SuperPlay’s portfolio while significantly increasing its presence in the casual genre.
