Aristocrat Expands Digital Division with Multiple Acquisitions

Aristocrat Leisure (ASX: ALL) has taken considerable steps towards expanding its digital games business. The company has announced that it has agreed to acquire the mobile gaming studios Futureplay and Playsoft, and it is also planning to establish a new development facility in Finland.

These three studios will be part of the Aristocrat Digital division, which is set to support its efforts to grow within the casual gaming and social casino markets.

Futureplay, which was founded in Finland in 2015, specializes in free mobile gaming, and it is behind six titles that have been played by more than 140 million people, including Merge Gardens, Idle Farming Empire, and Battlelands Royale. Assuming the acquisition goes through, Futureplay will become a studio within Aristocrat’s Plarium business. This will allow it to combine Plarium’s game development infrastructure and marketing capabilities with Futureplay’s casual mobile capabilities.

Playsoft is based in Poland and has produced more than 50 games for third-party partners over the last thirteen years. The acquisition will bring Playsoft into Aristocrat’s Product Madness business, which will help speed up the studio’s game development time.

The new studio in Finland, Northern Stars, is set to focus on the hybrid casual genre. Minwoo Lee, formerly of EA and Ubisoft, and Antti Nikander, who previously worked for Rovio, will lead it. Aristocrat said that the studio would help increase the company’s Finnish presence and its game development capabilities.

These deals are consistent with Aristocrat’s successful strategy of bringing more world-class game development talent and capability into the organization to expand our game pipeline and sustain our strong growth momentum in digital. We are thrilled to welcome Futureplay, Northern Stars, and Playsoft to the Aristocrat Digital family, given their impressive track records in game development, creativity, and innovation. Coupled with Aristocrat Digital’s ambitious strategy, global scale, marketing, and investment capabilities, we look forward to helping our new colleagues reach new heights as part of Aristocrat.

Michael LangAristocrat Digital Chief Executive