Take-Two is clawing mobile developer Zynga for 12.7 billion US dollars to bring games like GTA, Max Payne, Bioshock, Borderlands, Mafia or NBA 2K to mobile phones.
Take-Two wants to make game series like Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock or NBA 2K playable on mobile phones and mobile devices. And for this, the publisher is snapping up a real expert in the field for a measly 12.7 billion US dollars: Zynga, which has already developed money-printing machines like Farmville.
How Take-Two is going big in the mobile business
What’s happening right now? Take-Two announced on 10 January 2022 that it would acquire Zynga for a total of $12.7 billion. The deal is not one hundred percent final, but should everything go smoothly, it would make the publisher one of the biggest players in mobile gaming.
Theoretically, another company could make Zynga a better offer, but since Take-Two’s offer is already 64 per cent above the current share price, that is not necessarily likely. In 2020, for example, Take-Two already tried to buy racing game developer Codemasters, but was ultimately outbid by EA.
New record: If the deal actually goes through, it would be the biggest ever in the gaming industry, leaving behind, for example, Tencent’s purchase of Supercell for 10.2 billion or Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda for 7.5 billion US dollars.
Zynga itself is a company specialising in mobile games, which makes billions in annual profits with free2play games such as Farmville, Words With Friends, CSR Racing 2 or Zynga Poker. The company mainly makes profit with microtransactions or in-game advertising.
GTA, Red Dead and Co. as smartphone games
Why is this exciting? Take-Two has big plans for the Zynga company, of course. At a (Investor Conference), for example, it was already clearly stated that they want to get more involved in mobile games through this.
Specifically, the following titles of the developers belonging to the publisher, such as Rockstar Games, Gearbox Software, Private Division or 2K were listed in the course of the presentation:
- Borderlands
- Civilization
- Grand Theft Auto
- Kerbal Space Program
- L.A. Noire
- Mafia
- Max Payne
- Midnight Club
- NBA 2K
- Red Dead Redemption
It is probably too early to share more detailed plans on potential mobile adaptations of these game series – if they exist at all. What is certain, however, is that Take-Two definitely wants to capitalise on the takeover of Zynga, which means that sooner or later games like GTA Mobile, Red Dead Mobile, Borderlands Mobile and co. are likely to flourish.
By the way, games like Call of Duty Mobile or PUBG Mobile already prove that mobile adaptations of established AAA brands can also work on the (very) small screen, while Diablo Immortal, for example, is in the starting blocks.
Which games from publisher Take-Two would you like to be able to play on your mobile phone? Let us know in the comments!
