GTA publisher Take-Two acquiring mobile games giant Zynga in $12.7B deal

Game publisher Take-Two Interactive is acquiring Zynga, the mobile and social games giant responsible for FarmVille, Words with Friends, and CSR Racing, in a deal valued at $12.7 billion, the companies announced Monday.

The deal is one of the biggest in video game acquisition history, exceeding Microsoft’s buyout of ZeniMax Media and Tencent’s purchase of Supercell. It will give Take-Two a major boost in its mobile games library, which currently includes games like Dragon City, Monster Legends, Two Dots, and WWE Supercard. Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a statement the acquisition “significantly diversifies our business and establishes our leadership position in mobile, the fastest growing segment of the interactive entertainment industry.” Zynga’s mobile lineup includes popular games such as Empires & Puzzles, High Heels!, Merge Dragons, and Toon Blast.

Take-Two Interactive’s current console and PC games lineup includes established hits like NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto, and Borderlands, and its upcoming slate includes Borderlands spinoff Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, WWE 2K22, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and an enhanced and expanded version of Grand Theft Auto 5 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Traditional games publishers have been on a mobile games publisher buying spree over the past year, with Take-Two having also acquired Top Eleven Football Manager developer Nordeus in 2021. Rival publishers Electronic Arts also snapped up Glu Mobile and Playdemic, and Embracer Group acquired Easybrain in one of its many acquisitions, in the past year.

2021 was rife with consolidation and acquisitions, with EA also also buying Super Mega Baseball maker Metalhead Software; Netflix buying Oxenfree developer Night School Studio; Tencent buying Back 4 Blood creators Turtle Rock Studios; and Sony snapping up Bluepoint Games, Housemarque, Firesprite, and Nixxes Software.