South Korean gaming developer Netmarble Corporation has announced that it has agreed to purchase 100% of Hong Kong-based social casino gaming company SPinX Games for $2.19B (₩2.5T).
Established in 2014, SpinX Games has become one of the fastest-growing social casino gaming companies in the world. In Q1 2021, the company ranked third for global sales in the mobile social casino gaming category generating $141M in sales while sales for 2020 totaled $432M. Some of the company’s popular games include Cash Frenzy, Lotsa Slots, and Jackpot World.
Speaking of the acquisition, Seungwon Lee, CEO of Netmarble said:
“The Social Casino genre shows continued global growth, and we are very excited to execute a share purchase agreement with SpinX Games, one of the leading companies in the genre. Through the acquisition, Netmarble will add the Social Casino genre alongside its existing main genre of RPG to further strengthen its lineup of casual games. With this diversified portfolio, we expect to fortify our competitive edge in the global mobile gaming market.”
Paul Zhang, CEO of SpinX Games went on to add:
“We are very excited to be joining the Netmarble family, one of the fastest-growing mobile game companies in the world. The mobile Social Casino business is a constantly evolving sector, and we plan to take the most advantage of this opportunity to strengthen global competitiveness for both companies as part of the extensive synergies with Netmarble.”
The deal will be facilitated by Netmarble’s holding company based in the Cayman Islands.
Netmarble was established in 2000 and is backed by major shareholder/founder Bang Jun-hyuk and CJ ENM. Tencent is the third-largest stakeholder with 17.5% of shares in the company.
Olivia has worked as an editor and writer for major brands across multiple niches. She now focuses on the iGaming and sports betting industries.