April 23, 2024

Take-Two Interactive, the company behind popular video games, “Grand Theft Auto”, “NBA 2K” and “Red Dead Redemption” have announced that it is buying Zynga, the mobile gaming company. The takeover, worth $12.7 billion dollars, is one of the biggest in acquisitions in the gaming industry. 

Zynga is popular is for mobile games such as “Words With Friends”, “Farmville” and “CSR Racing”. As part of the deal, Zynga will help adapt several of Take-Two’s popular console game franchises for mobile.

The two companies are behind some of gamings biggest names

“This strategic combination brings together our best-in-class console and PC franchises, with a market-leading, diversified mobile publishing platform that has a rich history of innovation and creativity,” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a statement. He will remain head of the company once the two companies merge later this year.

The deal is expected to close by June 30, 2022 after it has gone through regulatory and shareholder approvals. 

The merger will create one of the largest gaming companies overall, with an expected $6.1 billion in sales and nearly $800 million in operating cash flow, according to the press release