Australian gaming company Aristocrat Leisure announced Thursday that is has acquired Israeli social-gaming developer Plarium for $500 million. The deal, to be finalized by December 2017, was pursued as part of Aristocrat's move to increase its exposure to the rapidly-growing digital market. According to The Australian, the deal will increase Aristocrat's digital footprint from 14% to 22% of revenue. In a similar effort, the Sydney-based company purchased social-casino operator Product Madness in 2012. "Plarium provides a unique opportunity to continue and accelerate this growth by diversifying into attractive new mobile gaming segments, including strategy, RPG and casual," Aristocrat CEO Trevor Croker said in a statement. "The acquisition of Plarium allows Aristocrat to expand our addressable market into logical adjacent segments in the fast growing mobile social gaming market. It also provides us a stronger platform to target the overall mobile and web games market as growth segments." The Herzliya-based Plarium employs 1,200 people and has offices in Israel, Europe, and the United States. Founded in 2009, Plarium has nine key titles and a strong game pipeline. Plarium's most popular game to date, Vikings: War of Clans, has repeatedly ranked in the top 10 grossing strategy games since its launch, financial daily Globes said. Plarium CEO and cofounder Avraham Shalel will continue to lead Plarium after the deal is finalized. "I am very proud of the success we have achieved since establishing the business in 2009. The hard work and efforts of Plarium's employees have positioned Plarium as a world class mobile game publisher," Shalel said in a statement. "Aristocrat is an ideal partner for us given our common aspiration to be a global leader in social gaming, which will be accelerated through leveraging Aristocrat's financial, strategic and operational resources." Plarium's games are available, free of charge, on all major social networks, including Facebook, Vicente and Mail Roo, as well as on web browsers and the iOS and Android platforms.
Australian gaming company buys Israel's Plarium for $500 million
Aristocrat Leisure buys Herzliya-based Plarium in a bid to improve the Australian company's exposure to the fast-growing digital market • Deal to be completed by December 2017 • Plarium employs 1,200 people, has offices in Israel, Europe, and the U.S.
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