Zynga today announced that their subsidiary, Rollic games, had successfully closed the acquisition of hypercasual studio Popcore games, the financial details of which were not disclosed. The move is set to further strengthen Zynga’s foothold in the hypercasual games market and emphasise the importance Rollic will have in that role.
The CEO of Rollic, Burak Vardal said about the acquisition “Popcore’s dedication to rapid experimentation and nimble development matches perfectly with the values and processes we live by at Rollic and I am thrilled to welcome them into our family. Combining allows us to build more gaming experiences that emphasise meaningful, lasting engagement. Furthermore, our mutual user base with Popcore will represent a great combination of new players and long-term retaining users.”
Zynga’s acquisition by Take-Two is key
The acquisition of Zynga by Take-Two Interactive, and the corresponding sharp rise in Take-Two’s mobile revenue, is sure to be a partial influence on the deal, as Zynga and Take-Two seek to further invest into the hypercasual market. As Vardal states, Rollic will consolidate its audience further by bringing games that Popcore have published, many of which have reached #1 on the download charts, into their library. The new acquisition is set to help improve Rollic’s hypercasual catalogue by bringing Popcore’s experience with live services and in-game events to help update engagement patterns.
Co-founder of Popcore, Johannes Heinze commented on the deal and about how their assets and experience would improve Rollic going forward “Our teams rigorously test our games, evolving them based on in-depth data analytics to provide entertainment that balances the accessibility of hyper-casual with the lasting engagement of casual gaming. This deal will combine our specific brand of ad-driven, free-to-play mobile titles with Rollic’s global marketing expertise and Zynga’s history of live services to build the next generation of mobile games.”
The Turkish mobile gaming market continues to grow and demonstrates potential to become a world leader in mobile. Recently, another acquisition took place when Matchingham games acquired two titles from Turkish-based Pow Games as part of their ongoing collaboration.
