Gaming giant Playtech has been busy the past several years expanding its business endeavors into new territories. Once focused on the gambling industry, it wanted to incorporate other activities into the mix, including casual games. That led to the acquisition of Funtactix a few years ago, which brought with it FTX Games and Plamee Studios. However, things haven’t been going as planned since then, and shareholders have been getting nervous. As they exert their collective power over the company, Playtech has been forced to make some tough decisions, one of which has been the refocusing of its operations. In order to concentrate on the gambling activity that helped it get its start, Playtech has now gotten rid of FTX and Plamee, selling them to Tilting Point for an undisclosed amount of money.
U.S.-based Tilting Point is a free-to-play game publisher that will now control San Diego, California-based FTX and St. Petersburg, Florida-based Plamee. The former is the publisher behind titles such as Narcos: Cartel Wars, The Walking Dead: Free Casino Slots and others, and the latter developed the Narcos game. This is the third acquisition made by Tilting Point in eight months after it previously acquired Gondola, a tech platform, and Star Trek Timelines, a role-playing game.
The acquisition of Funtactix was expected to bring a whole new era of increased revenue for Playtech, with the company asserting that the casual gaming sector was going to deliver tremendous positive growth since its gambling operations had reached “peak capacity.” However, things have not gone according to plan, and the company has had to deal with several setbacks since making the purchase. This year hasn’t been any better, with the company having to put the brakes on its activity in Italy recently as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Playtech’s stock has been on an almost constant decline since 2018 and it has not been able to recover fast enough to appease its shareholders. Investors have essentially ordered the company to return to its gambling roots while they simultaneously begin to put all of the company’s operations under a microscope. However, things have still not improved by any measurable amount since then.
For its part, Tilting Point feels that Playtech has been able to do a decent job pushing its casual gaming segment forward. The company’s president, Samir El Agili, asserts, “Playtech has put together an impressive and highly successful free to play mobile game business. At Tilting Point, we share very similar DNA and expertise in bringing great brands to mobile. We are thrilled to be able to give the companies that made up that business a home as Playtech refocuses on its core business.”
His position was echoed by CEO Kevin Segalla, who states, “This has been an exciting time as momentum continues to build for Tilting Point. FTX, Plamee, and the great games they’ve made are an excellent addition to the growing Tilting Point family. For us, acquisitions of strong studios are the natural progression as we continue to grow our publishing business.”
