Take-Two has completed its acquisition of Zynga, the developer behind mobile and social behemoths such as Farmville and Words with Friends, for $12.7 billion.
The two companies announced the deal in January, making headlines as the most expensive acquisition in video games history to date. That title has since been taken by Microsoft's planned $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, though the deal has yet to receive the regulatory go-ahead from the Federal Trade Commission.
Take-Two, which publishes Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands and plenty of other major gaming series, plans to have Zynga build out mobile games based on its existing IP.
In addition to its popular social games, Zynga has released several successful mobile games, including the CSR Racing series, Golf Rival and several casino-style games. The studio now represents Take-Two's first real foot in the mobile games space.
"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," Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau said in January.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick expressed his enthusiasm for the deal in a statement.
"We are thrilled to complete our combination with Zynga, which is a pivotal step to increase exponentially our Net Bookings from mobile, the fastest-growing segment in interactive entertainment, while also providing us with substantial cost synergies and revenue opportunities.
"As we bring together our exceptional talent, exciting pipelines of games, and industry-leading technologies and capabilities, we believe that we can take our portfolio to another level of creativity, innovation, and quality."
