MTG acquires mobile racing game studio Hutch Games for up to $375 million

Sweden's MTG is making a significant acquisition in the mobile gaming industry. The company is acquiring Hutch Games, the London-based game studio behind popular mobile racing games, such as Rebel Racing, F1 Manager and Top Drives.

The acquisition is an important one for MTG as the company is spending $275 million right away and setting aside another $100 million for performance-based payments.

If you're not familiar with MTG, you probably know its portfolio companies. Over the past few years, MTG has acquired ESL and DreamHack to become an esports leader.

MTG has also acquired InnoGames and Kongregate for their popular web-based and mobile games. And it sounds like MTG isn't done just yet as the company plans to acquire more companies in the near future.

MTG explains why the acquisition makes sense in its announcement. Hutch Games isn't focused on a single game. It has built a portfolio of successful games, which is always a good sign for future growth.

The game studio has also licensed some well-known brands, such as F1. And MTG believes that F1 Manager, Top Drives and Rebel Racing still have a lot of growth potential. Free-to-play mobile games have become games as a service, so you want to keep them popular over the long run.

When it comes to long-term potential, Hutch Games also has more games in the pipeline for 2021 and 2022. Finally, it's a cost-effective studio as most employees are developers.

During the first nine months of 2020, Hutch Games generated $56.3 million in revenue and $13.3 million in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). Hutch Games investors included Backed VC, Index Ventures, Initial Capital and angel investor Chris Lee.

As you can see, free-to-play games can be lucrative. That's why there will be some consolidation in the future. Some companies will use their deep pockets or take advantage of debt to build out big portfolios and the real estate of your home screen, one game at a time.