Take-Two, the publisher of games such as Borderlands, Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, Kerbal Space Program, has announced that it will acquire Zynga for a deal that’s worth around $12.7 billion – making it one of the most expensive video game companies acquisitions of all time. The deal will help Take-Two turn into one of the largest game publishers in the world.

Zynga is a leading developer of some of the most popular games on mobile, the web, and Facebook. They developed games such as FarmVille, Zynga Poker, Words With Friends, and many more. The company developed and maintains more than 40 games in its portfolio, and had more than 134 million monthly active users, and more than 36 million daily active users back in 2020. The company creates mainly free games that offer in-app purchases to provide superpowers, in-game currency, skins, and power-ups in their titles.

The press release mentions the two companies creating a close relationship and working together on future titles:

“We are thrilled to announce our transformative transaction with Zynga, which significantly diversifies our business and establishes our leadership position in mobile, the fastest growing segment of the interactive entertainment industry,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “This strategic combination brings together our best-in-class console and PC franchises, with a market-leading, diversified mobile publishing platform that has a rich history of innovation and creativity. Zynga also has a highly talented and deeply experienced team, and we look forward to welcoming them into the Take-Two family in the coming months. As we combine our complementary businesses and operate at a much larger scale, we believe that we will deliver significant value to both sets of stockholders, including $100 million of annual cost synergies within the first two years post-closing and at least $500 million of annual Net Bookings opportunities over time.”

“Combining Zynga’s expertise in mobile and next-generation platforms with Take-Two’s best-in-class capabilities and intellectual property will enable us to further advance our mission to connect the world through games while achieving significant growth and synergies together,” said Frank Gibeau, the CEO of Zynga.

It will certainly be interesting what a company behind some of the most popular AAA titles can offer to bring into the mobile and web playing field with their expertise.