Zynga has completed its acquisition of 80% of Rollic, a game developer based in Istanbul, for a purchase price of approximately $180 million in cash. Over the next three years, Zynga will buy the remaining 20% of Rollic in equal installments based on specific performance targets. This deal, which was announced in August and closed on October 1, marks Zynga’s entry into the thriving hyper-casual market.
Rollic, whose games have been downloaded over 365 million times in less than two years, will continue to operate from its headquarters in Istanbul and be led by its current management team. The addition of Rollic’s team will enhance Zynga’s development capabilities and resources.
Zynga’s CEO, Frank Gibeau, expressed excitement about the acquisition, noting that the hyper-casual market is one of the fastest-growing categories in mobile gaming. He believes that Rollic’s diverse and large audience will be valuable as the mobile games and advertising landscape continues to expand.
Rollic, founded in 2018 by Burak Vardal, Deniz Basaran, and Mehmet Can Yavuz, is known for its hyper-casual games. Eight of its games have ranked as the top free downloaded games in the US App Store, and its latest releases, Go Knots 3D and Tangle Master 3D, were the two most downloaded games in the US App Store in Q2 2020.
This is Zynga’s second major acquisition of a casual games company in 2020, following its $1.85 billion deal to acquire Peak Games in June. Zynga reported strong revenue growth for the first half of 2020, with a 49.6% increase year-on-year.
