Saudi’s Savvy Games Group to acquire mobile games company Scopely for $4.9 billion

Savvy Games Group, a games and esports company that is part of the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund, has agreed to acquire mobile games studio Scopely for $4.9 billion. Founded in 2011, Scopely is known for several popular mobile games including Yahtzee With Buddies, Star Trek Fleet Command, Marvel Strike Force, Stumble Guys and Scrabble Go.

The Los-Angeles based company had a $3.3 billion post-money valuation in 2020 after raising a $340 million funding round. Scopely has grown over the past few years with a number of notable acquisitions. In 2020, Scopely acquired Disney’s FoxNext Games, and in 2021, the company acquired Sony Pictures Entertainment’s GSN Games for $1 billion.

“Scopely is one of the fastest-growing games companies today, and we have long admired their ability to build loyal, engaged player communities,” said Savvy Games Group CEO Brian Ward in a press release. “At Savvy Games Group, our mission is to invest in – and grow – the global games community by inviting the best minds to join us.”

Scopely will operate as an “autonomous company” under the Savvy umbrella, which includes esports firms ESL and Faceit. The company will continued to be led by co-CEOs Walter Driver and Javier Ferreira.

“As part of the Savvy Games Group portfolio, we will continue to build one of the world’s most diversified mobile-first games companies,” said Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira in a press release. Our technology platform, market-leading studio ecosystem, and world-class team have always enabled us to stay one step ahead of the rapidly growing games industry, delivering long-lasting franchises that delight players around the world. We look forward to reimagining the future of play with Brian and the Savvy team.”

Savvy says the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, will strengthen its ability to deliver new products for the global gaming community. The company also says the acquisition will build on Scopely’s cross-platform approach to extend its live services expertise to new segments like PC, console and more.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the Saudi Arabian government is betting $38 billion to become the next hub for the video-game industry, and that Savvy is looking to develop and acquire top-tier games.

The deal marks the sixth biggest acquisition in video games history in terms of price. The top place in this category goes to Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in a deal that’s still in the process of being completed, followed by Take-Two acquiring Zynga for $12.7 billion, Tencent buying Supercell for $8.6 billion, Microsoft purchasing ZeniMax for $8.1 billion and Activision buying King for $5.9 billion.