Take-Two Interactive has now officially completed its buyout of Zynga. The video game publisher announced its intent to purchase all shares of the mobile game maker to the tune of $12.7 billion back in January of this year. At $9.86-per-share, the buyout price was a 64% premium to Zynga’s previous week’s closing share price.
Following approval from shareholders on both sides last week, the deal is now closed. This makes Take-Two Interactive the owner of Zynga’s catalog of mobile games, including titles like Farmville, Words with Friends, and Empires & Puzzles.
“We are thrilled to complete our combination with Zynga,” Said Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick. “As we bring together our exceptional talent, exciting pipelines of games, and industry-leading technologies and capabilities, we believe that we can take our portfolio to another level of creativity, innovation, and quality.”
Take-Two Interactive has previously said it will establish T2 Mobile Games, a new mobile gaming division which Zynga will operate. The company looks to Zynga to help it bring its console and PC properties to mobile, as well as establish new titles within the free-to-play sphere.
Take-Two Interactive hopes to see big income from its new venture: As a result of this buyout, mobile revenue is expected to account for over 50% of net bookings for fiscal year 2023. Take-Two’s current mobile lineup (including titles like Dragon City, Top Eleven, and WWE SuperCard) is estimated to account for only 12% of net bookings for 2022.
Overall spending on mobile games is predicted to increase exponentially in the coming years. Estimates project the global mobile gaming market will reach $139.5 billion by 2026.