MTG buys 31 percent stake in InnoGames to tap into online games market

Swedish entertainment group MTG, owner of eSports companies Dreamhack and ESL, has picked up a 35 percent stake in InnoGames as it looks to enter the online gaming market. 

The transaction valued InnoGames at €260 million ($287 million), which means MTG will have forked over around €91 million ($100.5 million) for its 35 percent.

An option to acquire a further 16 percent of the company at the same valuation has also been inserted into the deal by MTG. If that happens, the Swedish outit would become InnoGames' majority shareholder. 

After finding its feet in the eSports arena, MTG says it's eager to carve itself a slice of the growing mobile and browser games sector, which it believes will generate revenues of $51 billion by 2018. 

With that in mind, InnoGames is a sensible target. The German online game developer-publisher has seen compound annual revenue grow by more than 20 percent over the last three years, and is expected to post revenues of €125 million ($165 million) in 2016. 

The studio currently caters to 150 million players across its portfolio of mobile and browsers titles such as Forge of Empires, Grepolis, and Elvenar, and has four studios in Germany employing over 400 staff. 

"InnoGames is the right partner due to its established position in the industry, fast growing mobile user base, and exciting pipeline of new releases," said MTG CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann. "We are now present in three complementary digital video storytelling verticals, and we will invest to expand this presence further."