Enthusiast Gaming acquires Addicting Games for $35M

Enthusiast Gaming Holdings has acquired casual game publisher Addicting Games for $35 million as reported by Venture Beat

The deal will help the Toronto-based Enthusiast Gaming expand its media and content platform for video game and esports fans to connect and engage with each other, said Enthusiast CEO Adrian Montgomery in an interview with GamesBeat.

The acquisition delivers on Enthusiast Gaming’s buy-and-build growth strategy and expands the company into casual gaming to own more monthly active users and viewers within the key Gen Z and Millennial demographic.

The acquisition delivers on Enthusiast Gaming’s buy-and-build growth strategy and expands the company into casual gaming to own more monthly active users and viewers within the key Gen Z and Millennial demographic

Addicting Games has been around for nearly 20 years as a pioneer in casual gaming. It has a library of games spanning action, sports, puzzles and more, with in-app purchases available on many titles. Addicting Games has followed a winding road but it has more than 10 million players a month playing its casual games, and that audience is pretty big in an age of bid-budget games.

Bill Karamouzis, the CEO and co-founder of Addicting Games, said in an interview that combining Enthusiast Gaming’s scale and expertise with his company’s properties and titles will increase engagement, drive new revenue opportunities, and provide the resources to develop new titles and fan experiences.

“We’re game developers. Everything we’re doing is around the product and around the player. And that’s really what we focused on,” Karamouzis said. “For almost 20 years we’ve done a deep dive when it comes to the player experiences. We’ve never really excelled at user acquisition. It’s just not something that we wanted to focus on. Enthusiast Gaming brings so many eyeballs. They have partnerships with influencers and content creators. They have marketing relationships and partnerships with major advertisers. It’s a nice marriage of the two talents between the two companies. And so for us, we’re, we’re excited to get our products in front of their audience.”

Enthusiast Gaming has properties that focus on gaming media, talent, esports and experiences. Addicting Games has 28 employees, and Enthusiast Gaming has 200 or so, not including contractors and talent. Montgomery said the company will retain everyone and it is focusing on growth.

Read More https://venturebeat.com/2021/09/07/enthusiast-gaming-acquires-addicting-games-for-35m/

check out https://company.addictinggames.com/