Free-to-play mobile and social games developer Playstudios acquired casual mobile games developer Brainium. The mobile gaming giant shared a press release following the agreement and said the deal consists of $70 million in upfront cash, but it’s accretive to earnings and tied to the performance of Brainium; meaning the studio may secure more for the period between December 31, 2022, and the closing of the acquisition.
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Through this deal, Playstudios adds popular games such as Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Sudoku, and Mahjong to its already rich portfolio. The creator of the playAWARDS loyalty platform said this acquisition also doubles the company’s DAU (daily active users) and will help more gamers earn real-life rewards while playing video games.
Andrew Pascal, Founder and CEO of Playstudios said, “The acquisition of Brainium brings a suite of thoughtfully designed and highly engaging casual games to PLAYSTUDIOS. It also further diversifies our business by complementing our largely in-app-purchase (IAP) based revenue model with a meaningful amount of advertising revenue,” and added, “We look forward to welcoming the Brainium team and working together to fully leverage our combined strengths in order to put real-world rewards in the hands of significantly more players.”
Jason Hahn, EVP of Corporate and Business Development of Playstudios also commented, “The acquisition of Brainium checks all the boxes on our growth strategy: it’s accretive to earnings, it more than doubles our average daily active users, expands our portfolio of games in new genres, diversifies our revenue streams, and advances our playAWARDS platform position, all of which further establish our position as leaders in rewarded play.”
Brainium is not a newcomer in the gaming space. The portland-based studio was founded back in 2008 and has nearly 5.5 million active users per month and about 2 million daily. The numbers come directly from the official press release.
Scott Willoughby, Chief Operating Officer of Brainium Studios believes Playstudios is the perfect home for the casual game developer. Willoughby said the team is eager to join forces with Playstudios and added that they look forward to “leveraging Playstudios’ vast strategic resources, and offering the unique playAWARDS platform to Brainum’s loyal player base.”
Playstudios acquired the rights to make a mobile Tetris game nearly a year ago and early in August, the company launched a blockchain division and a $10 million fund for Web3-powered gaming projects.
