Acquisition marks Spin Master's entrance into casual gaming with digital game for world-famous Rubik's Cube in development
TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2022 /CNW/ - Spin Master Corp. ("Spin Master" or the "Company") (TSX: TOY) (www.spinmaster.com), a leading global children's entertainment company, announced today the acquisition of Nørdlight, a digital game studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. The acquisition supports Spin Master's plans to grow revenue and penetration within digital gaming as well as leverage its proprietary intellectual property across all three creative centres: Toys, Entertainment and Digital Games.
Spin Master initially made a minority investment in Nørdlight in August 2021 through Spin Master Ventures, an initiative focused on investing in cutting-edge, early-stage start-ups, designed to accelerate growth in each of the Company's three creative centres. Twelve months later, this transaction marks the first minority investment to transition into an acquisition.
"The pace of innovation within the children's entertainment space is rapidly changing, and this acquisition is strategically aligned with our long-term target to grow our Digital Games creative centre to up to 20% of Spin Master's total revenue," said Max Rangel, Spin Master's Global President and CEO. "Leveraging our expanding capabilities and roster of valuable intellectual property, we are well positioned to build engaging, evergreen digital games properties as gaming continues to permeate entertainment time for children."
The Nørdlight team comes with over 50 years of combined experience in the mobile games industry, delivering some of the largest grossing mobile digital games in history including running the prototype team at King.com and leading the technology and art for digital games titles including Candy Crush Saga. During the past year, Nørdlight has been working on developing and evolving the world-famous Rubik's brand into the digital space by introducing a casual mobile puzzle game, a project that is now entrusted to this renowned team of "puzzle game kings".
"We are dedicated to developing great games that captivate audiences from all around the world with playful, inclusive content," said Fredrik Loving, Spin Master's President, Digital Games. "With the Nørdlight team now a part of our ecosystem, we can't wait to show the world how we can evolve one of the best-selling physical toys into the next mobile puzzle game phenomenon."
"For us, the indie feeling in studio construction is crucial, which is why we have chosen to do this with Spin Master who shares so many of our values and really sees the possibility of building a modern studio with the employees' creativity in focus," says Olle Bäck, CEO of Nördlight. "In addition, the access to IPs we can now work with is incredible and that together we make a digital version of one of the world's best-selling puzzle is, in short, a dream come true."
Spin Master's Digital Games creative centre operates a network of studios encompassing the award-winning Toca Boca and Noid, based in Stockholm, Sweden; Originator located in San Francisco, California; and Sago Mini, located in Toronto, Canada. Spin Master is focused on accelerating the growth of the Digital Games creative centre by increasing engagement and reach within current games, creating new intellectual property, leveraging existing brands and franchises in the digital realm and through acquisition.
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Spin Master Corp. (TSX:TOY) is a leading global children's entertainment company, creating exceptional play experiences through its three creative centres: Toys, Entertainment and Digital Games. With distribution in over 100 countries, Spin Master is best known for award-winning brands PAW Patrol®, Bakugan®, Kinetic Sand®, Air Hogs®, Hatchimals®, Rubik's Cube® and GUND®, and is the global toy licensee for other popular properties. Spin Master Entertainment creates and produces compelling multiplatform content, through its in-house studio and partnerships with outside creators, including the preschool franchise PAW Patrol and numerous other original shows, short-form series and feature films. The Company has an established presence in digital games, anchored by the Toca Boca® and Sago Mini® brands, offering open-ended and creative game and educational play in digital environments. Through Spin Master Ventures, the Company makes minority investments globally in emerging companies and start-ups. With over 30 offices in close to 20 countries, Spin Master employs more than 2,000 team members globally. For more information visit spinmaster.com or follow-on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @spinmaster.
SOURCE Spin Master Corp.
