Take-Two Interactive acquires Two Dots game developer for $192M

Playdots - developer of the mobile games Dots, Two Dots and Dots & Co. - has reached an agreement to be acquired by publisher Take-Two Interactive.

Take-Two will pay $192 million for the deal, $90 million in cash and the remaining $102 million in stock.

Playdots was founded in 2014 by Paul Murphy and Patrick Moberg, spinning out of startup studio betaworks with $10 million in funding led by Tencent and Greycroft It's currently led by CEO Nir Efrat, a former King.com executive who joined Playdots in 2018.

In the acquisition announcement, Take-Two (best known for publishing major franchises like BioShock and NBA 2K, plus - through its Rockstar Games subsidiary - Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption) says that Erfat will continue to lead Playdots' 70-person team.

Apparently the various Dots games have been downloaded more than 100 million times, with more than 80 million of those downloads coming from the most popular title, Two Dots.

In a statement, Michael Worosz, Take-Two's executive vice president and head of strategy and independent publishing, said:

Our acquisition of Playdots will diversify and strengthen further Take-Two's mobile game offerings, particularly within the casual, free-to-play segment. Two Dots continues to grow its audience and under the leadership of Nir, the addition of scavenger hunts, social leader boards and live-ops technology are enhancing the game and driving meaningful, long-term consumer engagement. We are very pleased to welcome Nir and the entire team at Playdots to the Take-Two family and are excited by the potential of their development pipeline and positive, long-term contributions to our business.