Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games and titles like GTA, 2K, and Red Dead Redemption, has acquired all the outstanding shares of Zynga, the mobile game developer behind titles like Star Wars Hunters and Farmville for a whopping $12.7 billion. This leaves behind all other acquisitions in the gaming industry. This is their fourth acquisition of a major mobile game development team and they really do seem to be serious about entering mobile.
Rockstar is planning to port their major AAA titles to mobile
Rockstar has had a very clear strategic approach while going about this deal. By making such a huge investment, Take-Two aims to solidify its position in the mobile gaming sphere. A statement from the official report says-
“Creation of new mobile games for many of the iconic franchises within Take-Two’s portfolio of intellectual property. Take-Two has an extensive catalog of commercially and critically successful console and PC titles with engaged and loyal communities of players, and there is a meaningful opportunity to create mobile games and new cross-platform experiences for many of these properties. Zynga’s nearly 3,000 employees include highly-talented mobile developers, paving the way for Take-Two to accelerate this strategic initiative and introduce its iconic intellectual properties across the fastest-growing platform in the industry.“
Not only can Take-Two bring games like GTA 5 or entire franchises like Red Dead Redemption to mobile along with cross-play, they’ll be creating entirely new AAA experiences and they’ll also take the free-to-play monetization aspect that mobile games have popularized for use in their major PC and Console titles. They have already estimated that more than $500 Million will be generated in annual net bookings so there’s definitely a lot of promise for them too.
While other major gaming corporations have shown considerable interest in mobile gaming, Take-Two has completely established its dominance with this major investment. However, it’s important to mention that for the next 45 days, Zynga can actually be acquired by another corporation if they offer a better price.
Considering the amount Take-Two has offered though, that is extremely unlikely to happen. It did happen a while ago but for a way lower asking price ($994 million) when EA outbid Take Two. That being said, this has once again shown just how profitable mobile is proving to be and how much scope it is for it to grow in the near future.
What are your thoughts on the fact that Take-Two has acquired Zynga? Let us know in the comments below!
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