Highlights

Apple’s China App Store Sheds Videogames as Beijing Tightens Internet Control (link)

• Apple is removing thousands of gaming apps from the App Store in China as the government is enforcing restrictions on various types of content
• Earlier in December, Apple warned Chinese game developers that a new wave of paid gaming apps was at risk of removal from its app store and asked developers to submit proof of a government license
• In 2019, Apple had 272,000 games in its China App Store and has removed at least 94,000 game apps in 2020, far exceeding the 25,000 game apps taken down in 2019

KamaGames hits 150M unique users across its library (link)

• Social casino games Company KamaGames has hit 150M unique users across its portfolio, with help from its most successful games, Pokerist and BlackJackist
• The Company’s most recent non-social casino release, Durak, has outperformed expectations with 1.5M downloads after entering soft launch earlier this year

M&A and Capital Raising

Blackstone to make ~$400M majority investment in mobile app marketer Liftoff (link)

• Blackstone has agreed to invest ~$400M in mobile app marketing optimization platform Liftoff, resulting in a majority stake in the Company
• California-based Liftoff was founded in 2012 with a focus on mobile app marketing and today delivers more than a billion ads each day to users in 90 countries and across more than 500,000 mobile publishers
• Roughly half of Liftoff’s business is catered to mobile games

Moon Active acquires Family Island mobile game maker Melsoft (link)

• Israel-based Moon Active announced the acquisition of Cyprus-based mobile game company Melsoft, the developer of Family Island and MyCafe
• Melsoft has an annual revenue run-rate of more than $160M
• Moon Active’s flagship Coin Master game is ranked as the fourth highest-earning mobile game in the world for 2020, and has surpassed $1B in revenue to date

ByteDance is looking to acquire mobile games publisher CMGE, according to Reuters (link)

• ByteDance is rumored to be in talks to purchase mobile games publisher CMGE Technology Group, according to Reuters
• ByteDance is allegedly seeking to buy the 27.6% stake in GMGE that is held by Fairview Ridge Investment, which is said to be worth $275M
• The TikTok parent company has previously stepped into the games industry through the launch of a new mobile games storefront and publishing arm

Mag Interactive acquires Swedish studio Apprope (link)

• Mobile games specialist Mag Interactive has acquired Swedish studio Apprope for upfront cash consideration of ~$6M with additional consideration of ~$6M depending on profit performance over the next 3 years
• Apprope is best known for its word-based title Word Bubbles, which has generated ~$12M, and its games have been downloaded 55M times
• Recently, Apprope released Word Mansion, and has seen a significant increase in sales and downloads

Voodoo acquires Paris-based studio OHM Games (link)

• French mobile games specialist Voodoo has acquired Paris-based studio OHM Games for an undisclosed transaction value
• Voodoo and OHM were partners prior to merging and published four titles together in 2020
• OHM Games is best known for mobile titles including Knock Balls, Push ’em All, Knock ’em All, Bullet Rush and Shortcut Run, with its portfolio of games achieving over 260M downloads to date

Others

Rovio names Alexandre Pelletier-Normand as its new CEO (link)

• Finnish mobile games specialist Rovio has named current Executive Vice President for Games, Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, as its new CEO
• Current Rovio CEO, Kati Levoranta, confirmed she would step down from the role in October

Navi esports club launches ‘metaverse’ with DMarket in-game trading platform (link)

• Esports club Navi, is launching a new gaming portal, or “metaverse,” with the help of blockchain-based game tech company DMarket
• Navi will launch NaviNation, which lets fans craft, sell, and buy digital assets and receive rewards and gifts from the team and partners
• The project is powered by the software application Drop, developed by Los Angeles-based DMarket

Gaming Public Multiples