Playtika Purchased For $4 Billion Dollars
Tia Winter | 4 August 2016If you’ve ever wondered how profitable freemium Facebook and mobile phone games can be, then wonder no longer. Playtika, the Israeli based company that focuses exclusively on such games, was recently purchased for 4.4 billion dollars. The purchase was made by a number of Chinese companies, including the well-known Giant Investment.
This mega-purchase should give an idea of just how valuable such software can be, and the potential it offers investors looking to cash in on the mobile gaming craze. This development is also an interesting indication of how the freemium game market is likely to develop, and it is no exaggeration to say that the occurrence is likely to see a spike in interest in this market in the near future.
Pay To Win
The pay to win game model is rapidly becoming more popular, based on a system that allows players to get involved in the game at no cost, but requires payments to be made in order to see real progress.
Playtika focuses on social casino games of this brand, and stated that it sees over six million players on a daily basis, in over 100 different countries. This number, of course, does not represent paying customers, but simply the number of people logging into Playtika created games.
One might ask, therefore, just what does six million players in a pay to win market actually equate to in terms of actual revenue? The number may be staggering. Playtika reported a profit of $240 million for the second quarter of 2016. This accounts for the $4 billion purchase of the company, which certainly seems to have been a wise investment.
The Future Of Playtika
Now that Playtika has heavyweight backing, the question arises as to where next. Robert Antokol, co-founder and CEO of the company, made a statement saying that he was incredibly excited about the development, and that many avenues have now been opened up to the company. It seems certain that Playtika will be expanding, and that their games will be seen far more prominently on Facebook, and on mobile phone application stores.
What this means for the casino game industry as a whole remains to be seen, but it does seem likely that more pay to win casino games will be finding their way into the market. As to whether this business model becomes the dominant one is not certain, but it’s certain to attract the interest of other investors and those looking to see where the future of gaming on the go is heading next.