The two companies announced Monday that Take-Two has officially completed its $12.7 billion deal for social game developer Zynga.
With the acquisition, Take-Two accepts ownership of big Zynga franchises like FarmVille and gets access to Zynga’s expertise in building hugely prevalent free-to-play mobile games.
Many notable game studios have financed heavily into mobile, and some of the biggest titles have proven to be massive revenue drivers. For example, Activision’s Call of Duty: Mobile, which launched in October 2019, surpassed $1.5 billion in lifetime revenue. And in November, Krafton’s PUBG Mobile reached an eye-popping $7 billion in lifetime revenue.
Take-Two, which owns significant properties like Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, and Civilization, likely wants to get in on that mobile money. In an investor display at the time of the deal, it plans to bring more of its franchises to mobile platforms with the service of Zynga.
The deal was first revealed in January in what ultimately kicked off a series of blockbuster gaming acquisition announcements. At the time, Take-Two’s Zynga buy was considered one of the most significant acquisitions in video game history. Still, Microsoft upped it significantly over a week later by promoting its $68.7 billion deal for Activision Blizzard. And at the end of that month, Sony said it would be buying Destiny developer Bungie in a $3.6 billion deal.
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video frolic holding company established in New York City and launched by Ryan Brant in September 1993.
The company holds two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which work as internal game development studios. In addition, take-Two created the Private Division label to support publishing from independent developers and more recently announced a new interior studio for the brand called Intercept Games.
The company also formed Ghost Story Games, a former 2K studio under the name Irrational Games. In addition, the company acquired the developers Socialpoint, Playdots, and Nordeus to establish itself in the mobile game market. The company also owns 50% of the professional esports organization NBA 2K League. Take-Two’s combined portfolio contains franchises such as BioShock, Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, Borderlands, and Red Dead.
It is the third-largest publicly sold game company in the Americas and Europe behind Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts, with an approximated market cap of US$13 Bn.
Take-Two’s executive headquarters and worldwide headquarters are discovered in New York City. The company conducts its European operations from Windsor, England, and its Asian operations from Singapore. As of 2018, Take-Two’s primary business is via two self-owned publishing labels. One title is Rockstar Games, located in New York City, specializing in developing and publishing action-adventure games such as Grand Theft Auto.
The additional label is 2K, headquartered in Novato, California, and comprises its divisions 2K Sports, 2K Games, and 2K Play. The 2K Sports division oversees Take-Two’s sports simulation games, such as the NBA 2K series. 2K Play covers family-friendly and kid’s video games produced by Take-Two’s studios.
2K Games regulates nearly all other production from Take-Two’s internal development studios and titles from selected third parties.
Take-Two owns Private Division, a brand designed to support publishing and market games from mid-sized independent creators, such as Squad’s Kerbal Space Program. Ultimately, Take-Two owns Social Point, a developer for the mobile game need. With this structure in place from 1997 to 1998, each label incorporated principal operating businesses and had a higher degree of autonomy, each with its infrastructure and resources, management, and profit and loss strategies.
Take-Two has divested its older manufacturing and distribution operations to endorse digital publication and third-party retail allocation. Since 2016, about half of the company’s revenues have been from digital distribution, whether from digital sales of games through personal computers or consoles or video game monetization of its computer, console, and mobile titles.