Sony-owned GSN Games has acquired rival Plumbee to expand its global footprint in the UK
GSN has acquired 100% of London-based Plumbee’s equity for an undisclosed price, the company announced on Monday.
Plumbee is best known for its Mirrorball Slots app, which exceeded its 10 million download mark on Facebook and mobile devices in March last year. The company shut its Mirrorball Bingo app in March 2015 because the product did not have the traction the company was hoping for and for the company to focus on its core Mirrorball Slots product.
The deal shows a continuous consolidation of the mobile social casino market, which according to Eilers Research, generated $3.3 billion in revenues in 2015.
“This important acquisition will immediately bolster GSN Games’ ambitious growth plans by leveraging the top talent and social casino expertise of Plumbee to create best-in-class winning experiences for our players,” said Steve Brunell, chief operating officer of GSN. “We are also excited about the expansion of GSN Games into the United Kingdom, where we will look to capitalize on the high concentration of world-class gaming talent to supplement our outstanding Plumbee team.”
Plumbee’s team of 44 employees will be added to GSN’s 525 staff. With the acquisition, GSN now operates in seven locations including Boston, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Washington DC, London, Bangalore and Zaporozhye. Plumbee, which was previously backed by Endemol and Idinvest Partners, will become GSN’s London studio.
“We are delighted to join GSN Games, a growing force in the social casino space that ranks as a top five publisher worldwide,” said Raf Keustermans, CEO of Plumbee. “We look forward to adding our art, engineering, product management, analytics and marketing expertise to the existing scale, stability and talent of GSN Games to create industry-leading social casino experiences.”
GSN contributed to the further consolidation of the social gaming industry last year when it acquired developer Idle Gaming, developer of Fresh Deck Poker and Slots of Fun. GSN COO Steve Brunell said the acquisition “aligns perfectly with our strategy of leveraging first-rate teams and leading edge technology to create outstanding game experiences for our players.”
