Scopely acquires Scottish mobile developer Tag Games

Scottish mobile developer Tag Games has been purchased by free-to-play publisher Scopely.

Tag Games CEO Marc Williamson will remain at the company as head of studio, and believes the acquisition will make the company "even stronger."

Speaking to The Courier, the long-serving boss said Tag is eager to "fully integrate" into the Scopely ecosystem after working closely with the U.S. company over the past two years.

"It’s been an exciting adventure working with Scopely these past few years," he said. "We are energised to fully integrate into their ecosystem and see what more we can do together."

The deal will see Tag become a Scopely Studio, with all 60 of the studio's employees transferring over to the new company.

"There’s 60 of us here in Dundee and Scopely is a very ambitious company looking to grow all the time," continued Williamson. "We don’t have any concrete plans at the moment–the acquisition has only just taken effect–but I’m sure that will come as we get integrated into the business."

A deal years in the making

Tag and Scopely initially joined forces after the latter invested over $50 million into three studios, including Tag, back in July 2021.

"These studios share our vision to create extremely meaningful, dynamic experiences for players and represent outstanding passion and expertise in their respective genres," commented Scopely chief revenue officer, Tim O'Brien, at the time.

It's a burgeoning partnership that Williamson explained made the deal a "no-brainer," while Scopely added that the deal will allow the pair to "create extremely meaningful, dynamic experiences for players."

Tag has previously worked on mobile titles including Pocket Mortys, Monster High, and Angry Birds Action, and back in 2021 announced it was working on a strategic MMO.

Scopely, meanwhile, was recently purchased by Saudi Arabia-backed Savvy Games Group for $4.9 billion as part of the company's plan to make significant inroads into the video game industry.