Take-Two Interactive acquires Spanish mobile studio for $250M

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption creator Rockstar Games, has acquired Spanish mobile developer Social Point in a deal worth $250 million. 

The company will pay $175 million in cash, while the remaining $75 million will take the form of 1.48 million registered shares of Take-Two stock. 

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Barcelona, Social Point specializes in free-to-play titles and has released a number of successful games including Dragon City and Monster Legends -- which combined have racked up over 180 million downloads on iOS and Android. 

Since 2014, those two titles have regularly featured in the top 100 on the U.S. App Store grossing charts, and it's clear Take-Two was convinced to splash the cash as a result of those consistent performances. 

"With the acquisition of Social Point, Take-Two has further diversified its business, expanded its portfolio of owned intellectual property, and significantly enhanced its position in the fast-growing free-to-play mobile gaming space,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two.

"We believe that Social Point’s deeply-engaging mobile offerings will be a perfect complement to our business. Social Point is one of the few mobile game developers that has a proven track record of growing revenues and delivering multiple hits, and we expect this growth to continue."