MTG completes deal for games firm Kongregate

MTG CEO Jorgen Madsen Lindemann

Modern Times Group (MTG) has closed its US$55 million acquisition of US games publisher and developer Kongregate.

MTG announced the deal a month ago and has now bought 100% of the San Francisco-based games company, which will be fully consolidated into MTG’s digital business MTGx from August 1.

MTG has ben increasingly moving away from traditional broadcasting, shedding assets, and buying into digital and games companies in a bid to reposition itself as a leading digital entertainment provider.

“Consumers now spend almost a third of their mobile device time playing games, and Kongregate is a great fit with our strategy to invest inrelevant, complementary and scalable digital content and communities,” said MTG president and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann.

“Kongregate significantly strengthens our online gaming vertical and gives us a presence in both the European and US markets. We’re excited to complete this acquisition and to welcome the very talented Kongregate team to the MTG family.”

Kongregate began life as a browser-based games developer, but has since expanded into mobile and Steam games and recently acquired San Diego-based games studio Ultrabit.

The company grew its net sales by 38% last year to US$35 million, while mobile revenue generated from in-game purchasing and advertising grew by 74%. MTG said in June that it expects Kongregate is expected to grow its revenues to at least US$50 million this year.

Kongregate’s games attract some 14 million monthly active users. Its web games portal contains more than 100,000 free-to-play games and the firm has published 45 mobile games to date, which have been downloaded over 100 million times.

The deal is MTG’s latest move into the gaming space. In May it invested €82.6 million to increase its shareholding in mobile and browser-based games company, InnoGames, from 21% to 51%.

The agreement came after MTG said in January that it would use theproceeds of the sale of its stake in Czech free-to-air broadcaster Prima totop-up its investment in InnoGames.