Playtech offloads casual games subsidiaries
Playtech Plc has offloaded its casual games subsidiaries FTX Games and Plamee Studios to US games publisher Tilting Point, following an undisclosed agreement.
Games news sources report that Tilting Point has agreed to take over all major IPs and key employees of FTX Games and Plamee.
In 2014, Playtech launched its Plamee casual games studio, a subsidiary division formed by its $20 million acquisition of YoYo Games.
Following its acquisition of YoYo Games, Playtech acquired Funtactix – the founding company of FTX Games, a casual games publisher for entertainment franchises including The Hunger Games, Mission: Impossible, Power Rangers and Rocky.
Launching Plamee, the former FTSE100 technology group stated that the casual games sector would be its next growth entertainment marketplace, having secured ‘peak capacity’ within gambling.
Playtech’s venture into the casual games market coincided with the firm’s costly expansion into FX trading – in which Playtech undertook a series of multi-million acquisitions to develop its financial services division.
However, having seen its share price nosedive from its 2018 highs and with the company unable to deliver on corporate expectations, Playtech investors demanded that the company refocus its business on the recovery of its gambling portfolio.
Investor demands saw Playtech sell its 10% shareholding in FX platform Plus500 for $230 million, with the group underlining that all financial services assets had been placed under review as part of the firm’s wider restructuring.
Source: SBC News
