Video game developer Take-Two Interactive has reached an agreement to buy mobile gaming studio Playdots for $192 million.
“Our acquisition of Playdots will diversify and strengthen further Take-Two’s mobile game offerings, particularly within the casual, free-to-play segment,” Take-Two executive vice president Michael Worosz said in a statement.
The deal is being financed with $90 million in cash and $102 million in shares of Take-Two common stock. The number of Take-Two shares will be based on the company’s average price on the Nasdaq Global Select Market for the 30-day period leading up to three days before the transaction closes.
Playdots was founded by Paul Murphy and Patrick Moberg. In 2014, it raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Tencent and Greycroft. Its current CEO, Nir Efrat, joined the company in 2018.
After the deal closes, Efrat will continue to serve as the head of Playdots.
“Two Dots continues to grow its audience and under the leadership of Nir, the addition of scavenger hunts, social leader boards, and live-ops technology are enhancing the game and driving meaningful, long-term consumer engagement,” Worosz said. “We are very pleased to welcome Nir and the entire team at Playdots to the Take-Two family and are excited by the potential of their development pipeline and positive, long-term contributions to our business.”
Playdots is the studio behind Dots, Two Dots, and Dots & Co. Take-Two is the publisher of BioShock and NBA 2K. Its subsidiary, Rockstar Games, publishes Grand Theft Auto, and Red Dead Redemption. Playdots said its Dots games have been downloaded more than 100 million times.
Shares of Take-Two were up 1% in premarket trading Tuesday. The company’s stock price has increased 23% over the past three months, compared with a 14% jump in the S&P 500 SPX.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020.