Sony Sells GSN Games Studio to Scopely for $1B

The conglomerate had acquired the mobile studio after it bought out AT&T's stake in GSN in 2019.

Sony Pictures Entertainment will sell its video game studio GSN Games to the mobile gaming firm Scopely in a deal valued at $1 billion.

The deal, which is a 50-50 mix of cash and Scopely stock, will make Sony a significant minority shareholder in the gaming company. GSN CEO Mark Feldman will continue to oversee GSN Games under the Scopely umbrella

GSN Games had been a part of Game Show Network, which Sony took control of in 2019. It develops mobile and online casino games based on solitaire, poker, bingo and other games. It also produced a Wheel of Fortune-themed slots game (Wheel of Fortune is also owned by Sony).

Sony, of course, is already in the video game business, mostly through its Sony Interactive Entertainment division, which owns a number of game studios that mostly create content for the PlayStation platform. GSN Games, with its focus on mobile and casino-themed fare, didn’t quite fit in with that larger gaming strategy.

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Scopely, meanwhile, has seen rapid growth, raising more than $500 million last year from investors like Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group, the Newhouse family’s Advance, and private equity firm TSG.

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It has used that funding to finance significant acquisitions. Last year it acquired the studio PierPlay, which produces the popular Scrabble Go mobile game, based on the classic board game. It also acquired the game studio FoxNext from The Walt Disney Co. (Disney had acquired the studio as part of the 21st Century Fox acquisition).

“GSN Games has been a great business for Sony the last 14 years, and we are proud of the experiences the team continues to deliver for players around the world,” said Ravi Ahuja, chairman of global television studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment corporate development, in a statement. “In meeting the Scopely team, we knew we found the right organization to support and accelerate the business. We are confident they will take GSN Games to new heights and SPE is pleased to be a minority shareholder in Scopely as a result of this transaction.”