Playtech acquires Yoyo Games Limited

Software and services provider Playtech has announced the acquisition of UK-based Yoyo Games Limited (Yoyo) for US$16.4 million.

The acquisition forms part of Playtech’s strategy to penetrate the casual gaming sector, which already includes Plamee, an internal games development team which was founded in early 2014 and employs more than 120 developers.

Headquartered in Dundee, Yoyo’s Game Maker: Studio (GMS)  is a mobile-driven cross-platform casual game development technology that allows developers to create games using a single programming code in a matter of hours and then publish them to run natively across most common platforms, including iOS, Android, OS X, HTML5, PlayStation, Xbox, Ubuntu, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT.

The entire Game Maker family of products has reportedly been downloaded more than five million times while GMS has an impressive 750 000 registered games developers who currently use the platform on a freemium basis with chargeable add-ons.

Playtech will fund the acquisition from existing cash balances holding 30 percent of the acquisition price in escrow for up to 36 months after closing to provide security in respect of claims.

In addition, an earn-out consideration and a retention plan is expected to add a further US$5.25 million to the aggregate cost.

The acquisition will complete a three-pronged strategy into the casual games market, comprising: Playtech’s in-house games development studio; publishing of both in-house and third party games; and games technology, which includes Yoyo.

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