Take-Two and Zynga have merged in the games industry’s biggest ever completed deal

videogameschronicle.com:

Take-Two and Zynga have officially merged in the games industry’s biggest ever completed deal.

Rockstar owner Take-Two revealed in January that it planned to purchase Zynga in a $12.7 billion deal, which was approved by the stockholders of each organisation last week.

The deal has become the biggest completed acquisition in the history of the games industry, surpassing the $8.6 billion Chinese gaming giant Tencent paid in 2016 to purchase Finnish mobile game development studio Supercell.

However, Take-Two’s merger with Zynga is set to be dwarfed by Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, a deal which the Xbox maker claimed last week is moving relatively quickly.

Take-Two’s blockbuster console and PC franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands, NBA 2K and BioShock are now under the same roof as Zynga’s hugely popular social gaming brands including FarmVille and Words With Friends.

“We are thrilled to complete our combination with Zynga, which is a pivotal step to increase exponentially our net bookings from mobile, the fastest-growing segment in interactive entertainment, while also providing us with substantial cost synergies and revenue opportunities,” said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

“As we bring together our exceptional talent, exciting pipelines of games, and industry-leading technologies and capabilities, we believe that we can take our portfolio to another level of creativity, innovation, and quality.”

Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau also commented: “We are excited for Zynga’s next-generation mobile platform, free-to-play expertise, diverse offering of games and incredible team to join the Take-Two family.”