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TheGamingEconomy Daily Summary brings you the predominant business stories in gaming. In today’s news: EG7 Acquires Innova for 109.8 million euros (94.91 million pounds); Rivalry raises USD $ 20 million (£ 14 million); and Frogwares accuses Nacon of selling a pirated version of The Sinking City.
EG7 acquires Innova for 109.8 million euros (94.91 million pounds)
Enad Global 7 (EG7), the Stockholm-based video game holding company, announced that it will acquire Luxembourg-based publisher Innova Intellectual Properties for an estimated total consideration of € 109.8 million (£ 94.91 million). ), paid in full in newly issued shares. . Russian-owned Innova is best known for its portfolio of free PC MMORPG titles, notably Lineage 2; Ragnarok Online; and Point Blank, and generated a purported net sales figure of 33.3 million euros (28.8 million pounds sterling) and an EBITDA of 13.6 million euros (11.8 million pounds sterling) through 2020, which represents a multiple of the purchase price of 8.07 times. EG7, like its Swedish holding partners Embracer Group and Stillfront Group, has been particularly active in M&A transactions in recent months, buying Daybreak Games for USD $ 300 million (£ 215 million) in December, Piranha Games for CAD $ 31.4 million (£ 17.7 million). ) in November and Big Blue Bubble for C $ 16 million (£ 9 million) in August.
A statement released by EG7 reads: “Since Innova’s founding in 2006, the company has focused on free-to-play MMORPG titles and quickly became a partner with Asia’s most prominent video game developer. Since its inception, Innova has published more than 20 titles and currently has 9 live games that generate cash flow in its portfolio with more than 400,000 monthly active users. The foundation of the EG7 acquisition is Innova’s broad and diversified portfolio of well-known securities with long-term cash flows, its established presence in Asia and its experience in that market, its valuable proprietary technology, including its own distribution platform of games, and a promising future pipeline. “
The rivalry raises USD $ 20 million (£ 14 million)
Canadian esports betting platform Rivalry has announced that it has raised $ 20 million in a funding round backed by an undisclosed “major” gambling company and several institutional investors from North America and Europe. The investment will be used to support the group’s expansion into other markets and traditional sports betting. Following the investment, Rivalry executives are considering going public for the Toronto-based firm later this year.
Rivalry Co-Founder and CEO Steven Salz commented: “At Rivalry we are building the leading property in sports betting and sports media for the next generation of bettors globally, which we believe is a limitless multi-million dollar opportunity. With the closing of this funding round, we are able to accelerate our expansion plans through new licenses and gray markets under our existing regulatory regime, new product development, and our goal of providing the safest and most engaging sports betting experience in the world. . While Rivalry started out by focusing on esports betting, a growing percentage of our business is traditional sports, and shortly a set of original casino IPs. Our ambition has always been to harness esports as a path to the next generation of sports bettors and to build a truly new experience for them from top to bottom. “
Frogwares accuses Nacon of selling pirated version of the Sinking City
Sinking City developer Frogwares has accused Nacon of selling a pirated version of the title through Steam, in the latest development of a bitter legal dispute between the two companies. In a lengthy blog post, Frogwares details how Nacon allegedly altered the game’s assets, stole additional content outside of their original business deal, and commercialized the stolen property by selling it in stores not covered by the posting deal. In addition, Frogwares accuses the technical staff of Neopica, a studio acquired by Nacon in October, of facilitating the hacking process. The latest development comes after a Paris Court of Appeal ruling that The Sinking City should be returned to online stores after Frogwares removed it in August, with the developer claiming that Nacon withheld profits and payments for development milestones, in addition to requiring the title source code.
The blog post published by Frogwares detailing the alleged hack reads: “Nacon decided to steal and hack our game and they did so by leaving giant fingerprints. Nacon has shown that they are willing to do everything possible to serve their interests, including illegal actions. They ignored the decision of Justice and bypassed them, hacking The Sinking City to deceive their partners, Steam in the first place.[…] There is long term damage we need to take care of, Nacon unpacked our data, stole our source code and used it. Nacon can create a new version of The Sinking City using our assets; they can resell, reuse, recycle our content and tools, etc. “
