Why Scopely Will Go Big (Video) Game Hunting for M&A
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Why Scopely Will Go Big (Video) Game Hunting for M&A
Leave it to the makers of mobile game sensation “Monopoly Go!” to do some serious wheeling and dealing.
Fast-growing gaming company Scopely is clearly positioning itself to make sizable acquisitions in its sector, an effort propelled in part by the success of the biggest launch in mobile game history, based on Hasbro’s classic board game.
But the 12-year-old venture is also feeling ready for M&A thanks to the $38 billion earmarked for deals by its new parent company, Savvy Games Group, which has the deep pockets of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund.
Now, after a year of the two companies getting to know each other, Scopely is prepped to go shopping for game-development studios, which chief revenue officer Tim O’Brien clearly indicated last week at the Variety Entertainment & Technology Summit could yield at least one megadeal next year.
“We spent a good amount of time aligning on the strategy of what we want to accomplish, which would be the largest games company in the world,” O’Brien said. “We’re going out ready.”
In its CRO, the company has a chief dealmaker who has closed nine pacts over the past six years, part of what paved the way for Scopely to generate $10 billion lifetime revenue as of 2024.
Scopely is on the hunt for assets that are growing and at scale, capable of yielding the kind of evergreen franchises that “Monopoly Go!” became. "When you’re doing multiple billion dollars of revenue and you have global resources and infrastructure,” O’Brien said, “you can add a lot of value to game teams that are either earlier in the process or that have already released large franchises."
Cultivating those deals falls to Scopely's global business development and corporate development teams scouting opportunities across territories including Asia, South America and Europe.
Since coming to market in April 2023, “Monopoly Go!” has generated more than $3 billion in revenue. On a recent earnings call, Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro, which licenses the iconic IP to Scopely, likened the windfall to having the profits from a blockbuster film on its books.
“I think that’s put us in a very unique place, if you’re looking to exit or partner up, to go even bigger — we’re the right place to be,” said O'Brien.
