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Business Standard
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Nazara continues acquisition spree as it buys UK-based firm for ₹247 cr
Nazara acquires UK's Curve Games to expand global publishing and IP portfolio as part of an ongoing M&A strategy across interactive gaming and esports Mumbai Digital gaming firm Nazara Technologies has acquired UK-based PC and console game publisher Curve Games for Rs 247 crore, as it looks to strengthen its global publishing capabilities. The acquisition aligns with the company's strategy of expanding its portfolio through strategic investments in interactive gaming and sports media. Curve Games has a strong presence in major gaming markets including North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company's published titles have collectively seen over 100 million downloads. Notable games include the For the King franchise, Bomber Crew, Human Fall Flat, Wobbly Life, Badlands Crew, and Dungeons of Hinterberg. 'This acquisition deepens our capabilities, brings exceptional intellectual property (IP) into our fold, and strengthens our mission to build Nazara as a global gaming powerhouse from India. Curve will also serve as a gateway to the world for Indian game developers,' said Nitish Mittersain, chief executive officer of Nazara Technologies. Nazara noted that the acquisition will enable cross-platform IP development. 'Nazara's ecosystem, access to emerging markets, and long-term orientation make them a strong strategic partner. We are aligned in our vision of building a leading global indie publishing platform, and we look forward to the next phase of growth together,' said Stuart Dinsey, executive chairman of Curve Games. The acquisition adds to a series of mergers and acquisitions undertaken by Nazara Technologies, India's only publicly listed gaming company. M&A Trail In January this year, NODWIN Gaming, a Nazara subsidiary, received an investment of Rs 64 crore from the parent company to expand its business and intellectual property portfolio. In September 2023, Nazara acquired a significant stake in Moonshine Technology Pvt Ltd (MTPL), the parent company of PokerBaazi, for Rs 982 crore. This included a 47.7 per cent stake acquired through a Rs 832 crore secondary transaction and Rs 150 crore in primary capital via compulsory convertible preference shares. Around the same time, Nazara acquired a 15.86 per cent stake in esports platform GetMega (GetStan Technologies) for Rs 18.4 crore. In FY24 alone, the company announced four acquisitions in the gaming space. These included: - A 48.42 per cent additional stake in Paper Boat Apps, developer of the children's app Kiddopia, for Rs 300 crore - UK-based gaming studio Fusebox Games for Rs 228 crore - European esports company Freaks 4U Games, via NODWIN, for approximately Rs 271 crore - Sports media subsidiary Sportskeeda's acquisition of Deltia Gaming for Rs 7.5 crore In November 2023, Nazara raised Rs 855 crore through a preferential issue, with participation from SBI Innovative Opportunities Fund, Junomoneta Finsol, Think India Opportunities Master Fund LP, and others.
Business Upturn
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Upturn
Nazara Technologies acquires UK-based Curve Games for Rs 247 crore to strengthen global console gaming footprint
By Aditya Bhagchandani Published on May 20, 2025, 13:48 IST Nazara Technologies Ltd, India's only publicly listed gaming company, has announced a strategic acquisition of Curve Digital Entertainment Ltd (popularly known as Curve Games), a leading UK-based PC and console gaming publisher, for ₹247 crore. The all-cash deal is expected to significantly bolster Nazara's presence in the global gaming ecosystem. With this acquisition, Nazara aims to tap into the over $100 billion global PC and console gaming market, diversifying its portfolio beyond mobile gaming and reinforcing its vision of building a globally competitive gaming powerhouse from India. About Curve Games Curve Games has carved a niche in the global publishing space with more than 100 million downloads across a portfolio of indie gaming hits like Human Fall Flat , Bomber Crew , For the King , and The Ascent . The publisher is active in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, providing Nazara with immediate access to new geographies and genres. For the calendar year 2024, Curve Games reported: Revenue: ₹263.5 crore EBITDA: ₹114.4 crore Profit Before Tax: ₹49.6 crore Strategic Rationale Commenting on the deal, Nazara Technologies CEO Nitish Mittersain said, 'Curve's proven expertise in PC and console publishing makes them an ideal partner as we expand our focus beyond mobile. This acquisition brings exceptional IP and strengthens our global mission.' Executive Chairman of Curve Games, Stuart Dinsey, added, 'Nazara's ecosystem and access to emerging markets make them a strong strategic partner. We're aligned in our vision to build a global indie publishing platform.' This transaction aligns with Nazara's consistent strategy of acquiring niche gaming assets and building an IP-led global gaming company. Curve Games will serve as a bridge for Indian game developers to launch and publish globally, especially in premium gaming markets. About Nazara Technologies Nazara Technologies owns prominent gaming and esports brands such as Kiddopia, Animal Jam, World Cricket Championship, Sportskeeda, and Datawrkz. The company operates across India, North America, and other international markets and is actively expanding its portfolio via acquisitions. Disclaimer: The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. Stock market investments are subject to market risks. Always conduct your own research or consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions. Author or Business Upturn is not liable for any losses arising from the use of this information. Aditya Bhagchandani serves as the Senior Editor and Writer at Business Upturn, where he leads coverage across the Business, Finance, Corporate, and Stock Market segments. With a keen eye for detail and a commitment to journalistic integrity, he not only contributes insightful articles but also oversees editorial direction for the reporting team.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
There's a crazy number of demos on Steam right now—here are the five we think you should try
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Sometimes during Steam Next Fest I enter a sort of fugue state where I download like a hundred game demos and go to town. I give them fifteen minutes to grab me. If they do, they get 15 more minutes. If they're fun for half an hour, I play until they're done or until an hour passes. Sometimes they're good enough that I keep playing them even after that hour, which is rare, but that's how I arrived at these five games: I played 83 of this year's Steam Next Fest demos and these were my favorites, or at least the ones that stuck out most in my mind. This was the biggest Next Fest 2025 surprise for me, a game I didn't really expect to do anything special. I figured that after Bomber Crew and then the sort-of-tired Spaceship Crew I'd seen everything developer Runner Duck had going. Except it seems like they've found the perfect theme for their game mechanics: Wasteland warfare. You build up your war rig and take it on the road, running down caravans of enemy cars and blowing them to pieces while keeping your own in running shape. You set up speed and steer, but also use your crew's special powers on foes while you micromanage the crew to repel boarders, put out fires, and make repairs. If it were just that simple then I'd be interested but not impressed. The thing that clinched this as a top-5 demo for me is how the post-apocalyptic-badlands setting has potential for interesting variety in what you'll get to do. You'll escort valuable civilians from one point to another, take down marauding gangs, and conquer other crews' fortresses to expand your territory and demand tribute from them—all while trying to keep your previous conquests satisfied and in line. Skin Deep is a brilliant mess of a concept from a wildly diverse, veteran studio: Blendo Games. It's an immersive sim, and this is your job: You're the guy who gets put in frozen storage on a spaceship hauling valuables. If pirates take the ship, you get thawed out in your secret spot and take the ship back. You against an army of pirates. You have a pistol, but you have no shoes, so that kind of balances out. Blendo says it's a game where you "sneak, subvert, and sabotage to survive" which yeah, that's exactly right. You can sabotage the security checkpoints to shock people. You can jump on a dude's back and choke him out. You can go outside a ship in your spacesuit and then blow out a window and watch everyone get sucked out and then casually float inside the ship and trigger the emergency shutters and laugh your ass off. You can walk on broken glass and get it stuck in your feet which sucks. You can free the ship's cats to help you. This is some real Blendo Games vintage is what I'm saying and I like it. Shape of Dreams is a promising, yet subtly surprising, mix of MOBA and action roguelike gameplay. It's something like an isometric Risk of Rain in format but with much more focused, combo-driven game mechanics. It's playable in roguelike runs alone or with friends, with your characters taking on more generalist roles if you're playing alone or specializing if you're playing with pals, as in a MOBA—tanking and crowd control suddenly become options when you've got buddies along. The characters themselves are weirdly varied in that way modern MOBA designs are, too: Lizard with a shotgun, knight in full plate, floating wizard fox. You know the drill. The gameplay is surprisingly smooth, which is what really sells it. You've got standard attack and dash type movement you'd expect from action roguelikes, but on top of that you're stacking and customizing a set of skills that you pick up along the way. Each of those gets its own slots for gems, all of which do weird stuff: Add a bonus to the attack every 10 seconds, or let you use it to steal life, or blow you up for extra damage. I foresee some groups losing a month or more to playing this co-op when it releases. My final two Next Fest 2025 favorites are both king related. They're also both in a similar genre and have similar mechanics, but pressed to choose between the two I wouldn't do it. Even the developers have recognized the similarities enough to offer a bundle of the two. In 9 Kings, you're plopping down buildings and armies on the grid of your kingdom. You get to play one card, building or unit, from your hand each round before an enemy army attacks and your troops fight theirs in a little autobattle. 9 Kings is a deckbuilder of sorts, except your pool of cards is determined by your own chosen king's cards combined with those of the enemy kings you fight. Your job is to figure out how to combine your chosen card pool with the other guys' card pools to make an absolutely busted combo of some kind that snowballs out of all control and runs down armies until an enemy king shows up and you whoop their butt in person. It's a fun combination of limited time—you can only play one or two cards—with limited resources—you're not sure if you'll get more units, enchantments for the units, buildings that buff over time, or towers that take down enemies. Layer on top of that the spice of roguelike life: Weird, run-defining artifacts that'll do stuff like spit out a ton of free units, or fundamentally alter how a unit works. I think this one's going to be something special to watch for on release. This second royal choice started a bit slow, but it grew on me fast once I realized how it wanted me to play. In The King is Watching, you drop buildings from your little stable of cards, then use them to generate resources and units in real time. The twist? A little box on the map represents your king's gaze, and only the buildings actively under your attention do anything at all. That's where it turns frantic, as balancing your resource incomes and unit production in real time is a kind of delicious chaos that few games pull off well. You have to figure out how to build a combination of units that can keep you defended while you get the piles of resources you need to build advanced buildings and climb your tech tree—oh, and find the resources in there somewhere to expand your gaze area and repair the walls and expand your army size. You can even find random magic spells to throw at enemy waves, which are also interspersed with events that let you pick nice bonuses in addition to being comedic pixel fantasy versions of popular memes. There's a lot of character here that's really attractive, and I must recommend it. Those were my top five, but here's one more for good measure: Cauldron is a turn-based RPG where you're a little witch and adventuring party who battle and win primarily through… minigames. It's an oddly compelling mix of filling out a big ol' tree of upgrades and playing funny minigames that'll appeal to the incremental-idle crowd and the RPG crowd at the same time. To those of you who like the keywords I've dropped above this is guaranteed, absolute catnip.
