UK-based mobile games developer Tripledot Studios has announced the acquisition of AppLovin’s mobile gaming studio portfolio in a deal valued at approximately $800M, marking one of the largest consolidations in the mobile gaming sector to date.
The transaction - structured as half cash and half equity - will make AppLovin a minority shareholder in Tripledot and significantly expand the acquirer’s global footprint and talent base.
Subject to regulatory approvals and completion, the acquisition will bring Tripledot’s total to 12 studios across 23 cities, with more than 2,500 employees and an active player base of 25 million daily users. Annual gross revenues are projected to reach nearly $2 billion, placing Tripledot among the top five independent mobile gaming companies in the world by revenue.
Tripledot already operates from offices in London, Warsaw, Minsk, Barcelona, Jakarta, and Melbourne. The new studios span an additional 17 cities across North America, Europe, and Asia.
“This is a big step towards achieving our goal—taking us from being a high-performing challenger to a true global leader,” said Lior Shiff, co-founder and CEO of Tripledot Studios. “It gives us additional scale, diversification and access to the best talent globally. We’re thrilled to welcome these incredible teams to Tripledot.”
The acquisition is a notable validation of Europe's maturing gaming ecosystem. Tripledot now follows in the footsteps of earlier European mobile gaming giants like Rovio, King, and Supercell, helping reaffirm the region’s influence on a sector historically dominated by U.S. and East Asian studios.
The company has been profitable since its second year of operations, an increasingly rare feat in a market where user acquisition costs and platform fees can strain margins even at scale.
Studios and titles included in the acquisition include:
- Lion Studios – Hexa Sort, Wordle!, Found It
- PeopleFun – Wordscapes, Wordscapes Solitaire, Bricks n Balls
- Belka Games – Clockmaker, Train of Hope
- ZenLife Games – Cooking Madness, Word Connect
AppLovin, the US-based mobile tech and marketing platform, originally acquired studios as part of its broader machine learning strategy. Now, it is exiting game development to sharpen its focus on its core ad tech and software platform business.
“Seven years ago, we began acquiring gaming studios to help train our earliest machine learning models. However, we've never been a game developer at heart,” said Adam Foroughi, co-founder and CEO of AppLovin. “I have watched Lior build his company from the ground up... and give me incredible confidence they are the right partner to help these studios thrive going forward.”
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