The social gaming behemoth Zynga has finalized the purchase of a controlling interest in Turkish game developer Rollic for $180 million.
Zynga stated that it has finished acquiring an 80% stake in Istanbul-based Rollic for a total price (including working capital modifications) of roughly $180 million in cash.
Over the next three years, Zynga will acquire the remaining 20% interest in the developer, whose games have been downloaded over 365 million times in under two years.
The acquisition was finalized on October 1, and Zynga will update its 2020 full-year projections when it releases its third-quarter financial results. The agreement was first announced in August.
Rollic will remain headquartered in Istanbul and will continue to be led by founder and CEO Burak Vardal and its current management team.
Zynga said the agreement marks its entry into the rapidly expanding hyper-casual gaming market, and the addition of the Rollic team will bolster its development team and resources.
“We are excited to welcome Rollic and its skilled team, as well as its extensive network of developers, to Zynga,” said Frank Gibeau, CEO of Zynga.
Zynga is welcoming Rollic into the casual gaming arena, a sector that’s rapidly growing and brimming with excitement in the mobile gaming landscape. Rollic’s expansive and diverse user base will be a valuable asset for Zynga as the mobile gaming and advertising landscape continues to broaden.
Rollic was established in December 2018 by Burak Vardal, Deniz Basaran, and Mehmet Can Yavuz (pictured) and operates as a casual game publisher and developer. Eight of Rollic’s titles have secured the top or second spot in free downloads on the US App Store, and their most recent releases, Go Knots 3D and Tangle Master 3D, were the two most downloaded games on the US App Store in the second quarter of 2020.
“We are delighted to join Zynga, an environment that perfectly aligns with Rollic’s culture and core principles,” stated Rollic’s Vardal. “In this new chapter, Zynga and Rollic will unite powerful forces, creative, high-quality, and talented teams. We are dedicated to realizing the immense potential of this merger by crafting the next generation of mobile games.”
This marks Zynga’s second significant casual gaming acquisition in 2020 and its second acquisition of a Turkish company. In June, the company acquired Peak Games, the developer of games such as Toon Blast and Toy Blast, for $1.85 billion, following its acquisition of its card game studio in 2017.
The transaction was finalized in July, and Peak’s founder and CEO Sidar Sahin continues to lead the business.
Zynga reported in August that revenue surged by 49% in the six months ending June 30.
The firms income witnessed a 6% rise in comparison to the preceding year. This follows a record-smashing second quarter where income soared by 47.4% to a staggering $451.7 million.
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