Scopely Inc. has acquired GSN Games from Sony Pictures Entertainment for $1 billion. The Culver City-based privately held entertainment and video game company announced Oct. 18 it signed an agreement to purchase the game division of Game Show Network from Sony Pictures, which owns both as subsidiaries. GSN Games was first launched in 2007 as an offshoot of Game Show Network, which Sony helped create in 1994.
Scopely is best known for its catalog of mobile games, including Wheel of Fortune: Free Play, The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, and Star Trek: Fleet Command, which it also recently launched on PC. GSN Games has a similar collection of games, such as Solitaire TriPeaks and Bingo Bash.
Half of the $1 billion cost of the transaction will be paid in cash, and the other half with preferred equity, giving Sony Pictures a minority interest in Scopely. Although the transaction is subject to regulatory approval, its terms offer the studio the potential opportunity to generate future revenue from growth of GSN Games and Scopely’s expansion in the mobile gaming industry.
Scopely has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the gaming industry, tripling its revenues from 2018 to 2020 per a company spokesperson. The company has raised $990 million in funding to date, most recently adding $340 million to its coffers in a Series E round in October 2020.
The acquisition not only complements Scopely’s existing portfolio of games but also will add approximately 400 employees from GSN Games to its current team of 1,200. GSN Chief Executive Mark Feldman will continue to oversee the GSN Games business at Scopely after the deal closes.
Scopely Chief Revenue Officer Tim O’Brien said in a statement: “We hope to take what is already a strong business and accelerate it through our publishing and technology infrastructure, unlocking even more value. The GSN Games business has proven itself as both incredibly durable and consistently profitable, due to the dynamic experiences the team continues to build for players around the world.”
The company’s holdings include innovative online and mobile versions of standard-bearers such as solitaire and bingo. One of its most popular games, “Bingo Bash,” was acquired in 2014, and to date, players have cumulatively spent more than 60,000 years in-game, according to GSN. Meanwhile, more than 100 million hands are played every week in its “Solitaire TriPeaks.”
