Raid: Shadow Legends developer Plarium has been acquired by Swedish leisure conglomerate Trendy Occasions Group, and the quantity for which the studio was acquired might nicely shock you.
In keeping with a press launch, MTG (that is Trendy Occasions Group, after all, not Magic: The Gathering) acquired Plarium for a staggering $620 million, of which $20 million can be deferred to 2026.
That goes to point out simply how large the cell gaming enterprise nonetheless is (though, after all, Raid: Shadow Legends can also be accessible on PC). We’re not fairly within the realms of Take-Two’s monumental Zynga acquisition or Microsoft’s large Activision Blizzard merger, however $620 million is to not be sniffed at.
The quantity for which Plarium was acquired would possibly sound like loads, however as MTG factors out, the studio “generated $613 million in revenues” between September 2023 and September 2024, so the acquisition is price roughly one yr of Plarium’s income.
The group says that Plarium’s “tech and deep experience in live-ops, advertising and monetization” will profit its “efficiency over the long run”, and that the acquisition will “considerably enhance MTG’s already sturdy money circulate era”.
For those who’re solely aware of Raid: Shadow Legends from interstitial adverts and sponsorship offers, then it’s possible you’ll not know simply how massive a deal it’s, however suffice it to say that the sport does fairly nicely for itself financially.
Again in July 2022, it was revealed that Raid: Shadow Legends had handed $1 billion in total income, and whereas that does not fairly put it on the extent of a mega-hit like Tencent’s Honor of Kings, these are definitely big-league numbers.
Though Plarium is principally identified for Raid: Shadow Legends, the corporate does produce other video games as nicely, together with free-to-play PvP shooter Mech Area and informal puzzler Merge Gardens, amongst others.
We’ll have to attend and see what MTG’s acquisition of Plarium yields, but it surely’s unlikely to alter the latter’s enterprise practices in any significant manner. Keep tuned for extra.