“This is an exciting day for Playdemic as we become part of the Electronic Arts family,” said Gouge. Playdemic’s founders then sold the business to Warner Brothers’ TT Games subsidiary in 2017, not long after the developer launched Golf Clash, which is now one of the biggest mobile sports games in the UK and US with more than 80m downloads globally to date. Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at 2011, Playdemic was acquired by the social gaming company RockYou, which was attracted by its early Facebook hit Gourmet Ranch, but it was sold back to its founders later the same year after the US-based company ran into financial difficulty. The Wilmslow-based Playdemic was founded by Paul Gouge and Alex Rigby – who are still with the business as head of studio and creative director respectively – in 2010, and counted the Games Workshop co-founder Ian Livingstone as a chief investor. The deal to buy Playdemic is the largest in the company’s history. “The addition of the incredible Playdemic team not only adds to the strength of our mobile teams globally, it also continues our expansion and investment in UK-based talent.”ĮA, which has a market value of $37bn, has sports franchises including Fifa and Madden NFL. “We are thrilled to officially welcome the Playdemic team to Electronic Arts, adding to our growing mobile portfolio and expanding our leadership in sports,” said Andrew Wilson, EA’s chief executive.

The takeover of Playdemic, founded in 2010 and based in Cheshire, follows EA’s £954m deal in December to buy Warwickshire-based Codemasters, maker of racing simulators including the Formula One series. Electronic Arts has completed the $1.4bn (£1.04bn) deal to buy Playdemic, the mobile games maker known for its Golf Clash franchise, the latest British video games maker to be snapped up by the California-based giant.įor EA, the maker of titles including Battlefield and The Sims, the all-cash deal struck with Playdemic-owner AT&T’s Warner Bros Games division marks the latest move to expand its sports and mobile gaming business.

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