Electronic Arts Buy Playdemic for $1.4 billion

Electronic Arts have completed the $1.4bn deal to buy Playdemic. Playdemic is a mobile games maker known for its Golf Clash franchise, the latest British video games maker to be snapped up by the California-based giant. EA is the maker of games like Battlefield and The Sims.

Electronic Arts have completed an all-cash deal struck with Playdemic-owner AT&T’s Warner Bros Games division, marking the latest move to expand its sports and mobile gaming business.The takeover of Playdemic, founded in 2010 and based in Cheshire, follows EA’s £954m deal in December to buy Warwickshire-based Codemasters, maker of racing simulators including the Formula One series.

Andrew Wilson, EA’s chief executive said that they are thrilled to welcome the Playdemic team to Electronic Arts, adding to our growing mobile portfolio and expanding our leadership in sports. The addition of the incredible Playdemic team not only adds to the strength of our mobile teams globally, but also continues our expansion and investment in UK-based talent. Electronic Arts have a market value of $37bn, has sports franchises including Fifa and Madden NFL. The deal to buy Playdemic is the largest in the company’s history.

The Golf Clash franchise maker was founded by Paul Gouge and Alex Rigby who are still with the business as head of studio and creative director respectively in 2010 and counted the Games Workshop co-founder Ian Livingstone as a chief investor. Then they sold it to Warner Brothers’ TT Games subsidiary in 2017, not long after the developer launched Golf Clash, which is now one of the biggest mobile sports games in the UK and US with more than 80m downloads globally to date. The company currently employs 65 staff.