Playtech sells casual games subsidiaries

The company has sold the casual games subsidiaries FTX Games and Plamee Studios that it once saw as key to growth.

UK.- Playtech has reached an agreement to sell its free-to-play casual games subsidiaries for an undisclosed sum to US games publisher Tilting Point as it continues to streamline operations to focus on the recovery of its core gambling products.

Tilting Point is reported to have agreed to maintain major IPs and key employees from the subsidiaries FTX Games and Plamee.

Playtech launched St. Petersburg-based Plamee In 2014 following its US$20 million acquisition of YoYo Games. At the time it said it had reached peak capacity in gambling and that the casual games sector would be its next growth marketplace.

It went on to acquire Funtactix, owner of San Diego-based FTX Games, which publishes entertainment franchises like The Walking Dead: Free Casino Slots, Mission: Impossible, Power Rangers and Rocky. FTX also published the Playmee-developed game Narcos: Cartel Wars.

At the same time it expanded into FX trading through several major acquisitions, but investors pushed the company to refocus on core gambling products after failing to meet corporate expectations. The company has already sold its shares in the FX platform Plus500.

Tilting Point CEO Kevin Segalla said: “Playtech has put together an impressive and highly successful free to play mobile game business.

“At Tilting Point, we share very similar DNA and expertise in bringing great brands to mobile. We are thrilled to be able to give the companies that made up that business a home as Playtech refocuses on its core business.”

Back in May Playtech pledged to donate £3.5 million in recognition of past social responsibility failings in the UK by subsidiary PTES.