The acquisition of PlaySimple will enhance MTG’s position in the casual games’ genre
Swedish firm MTG buys Indian gaming firm PlaySimple for $360m. (Credit: Modern Times Group MTG)
Swedish gaming firm Modern Times Group MTG (MTG), through its subsidiary MTG Gaming, has acquired India-based gaming company PlaySimple in a cash and stock deal worth about SEK3.09bn ($360m).
MTG aims to pay 77% of the upfront consideration in cash and 23% in its Class B shares.
PlaySimple was founded in 2014 by Siddharth Jain and Siddhanth Jain – with fellow co-founders Preeti Reddy and Suraj Nalin.
Based in Bangalore, India, the company is engaged in developing and publishing high-quality free-to-play mobile word games.
With about 215 full-time employees, PlaySimple has a live portfolio of nine games, including titles such as ‘Daily Themed Crossword’, ‘Word Trip’, ‘Word Jam’, and ‘Word Wars’ with more than 75 million installs and seven million monthly active users.
Also, the company has four more new games in the pipeline that will be launched last this year.
PlaySimple reported that its revenues increased by 144% in the 2020 calendar year to SEK706m ($83m) with an adjusted EBITDA of SEK154m ($18m).
Commenting on the acquisition, MTG Group president and CEO Maria Redin said: “We’re very happy to welcome PlaySimple to our family of gaming companies.
“PlaySimple is a rapidly growing and highly profitable games studio that quickly has established itself as one of the leading global developers of free-to-play word games, an exciting new genre for MTG.”
The acquisition of PlaySimple is in line with MTG’s plan to drive value creation via organic growth and strategic M&A as well as enhance the company’s position in the casual games’ genre.
The Swedish firm, which has also acquired Hutch and Ninja Kiwi, said that PlaySimple will help it build a diversified gaming vertical.
PlaySimple co-founder and CEO Siddharth Jain said: “We’re delighted to join the MTG family – MTG’s approach to investments offers us creative freedom, and the opportunities created by the GamingCo really resonate with our team.
“We’re excited to have found a new home for our company, one where our team can learn and grow alongside our fellow companies.”