Aristocrat subsidiary Pixel United has agreed to sell its mobile game development company, Plarium Global, to Modern Times Group (MTG) in a transaction worth up to $820 million.
MTG is a Stockholm-based gaming and esports company. It will pay $620 million for Plarium Global and could fork out an additional $200 million based on Plarium’s performance from 2025 to 2028.
The sale is part of Aristocrat’s strategic review begun in May 2024 which is aimed at honing the company’s focus on core areas of the business, including land-based gaming, social casino offerings, and real-money gaming.
Aristocrat acquired Plarium in October 2017. The company develops free-to-play and social mobile and PC games, including Vikings: War of Clans, and has more than 500 million registered users worldwide. Unaudited Q3 2024 results show that Plarium contributed $615 million in revenue and $110 million in EBITA to Aristocrat.
“Aristocrat has incorporated a range of Plarium’s strategic capabilities and mobile content know-how into its core gaming operations over the past seven years, benefitting from digital marketing and UA management capability, enhanced live operations, and scaling and growing our combined social casino business,” said Aristocrat CEO and managing director Trevor Croker.
“Our ownership of Plarium has helped to drive Aristocrat’s digital transformation, extending our track record of successfully acquiring businesses to accelerate our strategy.”
Aristocrat Interactive brings online gaming portfolio under one roof
In a year of operational shifts, for the Australian company, perhaps the biggest was the launch of its Interactive business segment in June.
Aristocrat Interactive now hosts the company’s various online gaming brands, including Anaxi, NeoGames, Aspire Global, BtoBet and Pariplay, under one roof. It serves as a one-stop shop for content, proprietary technology, and solutions for iLottery and iGaming with five go-to-market businesses: iLottery, Content & Aggregation, Gaming Systems, iGaming & Sports, and iGaming White-Label.
“With the expanded Aristocrat Interactive business now sitting alongside Aristocrat Gaming and our market-leading mobile social casino business, we are increasingly focused on opportunities to lean into Aristocrat’s strengths in regulated gaming content and social slots,” Croker added.
Aristocrat said it intends to devote proceeds from the sale of Plarium, which is expected to close in the first half of 2025, to its capital allocation framework, supporting its long-term strategy in the regulated gaming and digital casino spaces. It expects the transaction to reduce its net profit after tax and amortization by a single-digit percentage.
