What began as an Isreali startup gaming company with about 15 employees in 2010 was eventually sold for around $4.4 billion in late 2016. The company, Playtika, is known for creating casino-style games specifically for social media networks.
It prides itself on being creative and innovative in the vast world of gaming and has introduced games such as Slotomania and Caesar’s Games to the world of social media. By creating games that can be included on social networks, they have innovated and revamped the gaming world. With millions of people on Facebook and other social networks, the success of this company comes as no surprise. Here is a brief history about the company, their success, and what they are doing today.
History of the Company
Playtika was founded in 2010 by Robert Antokol and Uri Shahak after raising $1 million from investors. Only one short year after the company was started, it sold 51% of its ownership for between $80 and $90 million to Harrah’s, which is a brand in the Caesar’s Interactive Entertainment LLC.
At the time, this was the largest purchase of an Israeli gaming company. Later, in 2016, the company was sold again, this time to a conglomerate of companies based in China. Even though the company has switched hands twice, it is still run by its founder and CEO, Robert Antokol with its headquarters based in Israel. It also kept the same management team, even after it changed ownership.
What the Company Does
Playtika is a gaming company that creates casino-style games, as well as other type, such as strategy games, for social networks. Their goal is to create highly riveting and enveloping games and bring them to the social networks like Facebook. The company claims that they have 6 million daily players on the web.
This is spanned over an incredible 190 countries and translated into 12 different languages. Playtika aims to create highly entertaining games and they were the first company to introduce the free casino games online. It has become increasingly popular over the years, and looks like it will continue to do so.
Playtika looks to please the customer and give everyone something to play, whether it be a fun game of slots, or an intriguing strategy game, or even somewhere in between. They have done a lot of research over the years and aim to be the best social casino gaming company out there. The company is unique and was the first one of its kind, therefore, creating a wave in the social media world that has become so popular over the years.
Games That Are Offered
Over the years, Playtika has created many unique and immersive social games. Their main focus is that of casino-style games, however they have incorporated other types of games, as well. They generate strategy games, as well as classic games such as bingo in order to make everyone happy.
Some of the games that they have developed over the years include:
- Slotomania: a free slots game that can be played online and that brings a real Vegas feel right to you.
- Caesar’s Casino (also known as Caesars Games): a game that has it all. It is comprised of blackjack, roulette, video poker, and free slots.
- WSOP: World Series of Poker brought right to your fingertips.
- Bingo Blitz: This unique game combines classic bingo with cool gameplay features like Power-ups and Collection Items.
There are many other games that Playtika has created, including a large number of free slots and other interesting and exciting games found in real casinos. Get the casino feel without spending the money.
Companies Involved With Playtika
Playtika was originally sold in 2011 to Caesar’s Interactive Entertainment. This company was formed by Caesar’s Entertainment Corporation in 2009 in order to maximize their value online. Caesar’s Entertainment Corporation is one of the most varied casino-entertainment companies in the world, and they really wanted to expand their business, so they took on the digital world. This only makes sense as the whole world is going digital nowadays, so they were smart in following suit. The CEO of Caesar’s, Mitch Garber, commented on how amazing his experience was taking a small startup company and growing it into what it is now, which is a hugely successful global business.
Five years later, Caesar’s Interactive Entertainment decides to sell their portion of Playtika for a substantial amount of money to a consortium of Chinese companies that are associated with Shanghai Giant Network Technology. This is one of China’s biggest online gaming companies.
The companies that have acquired Playtika include:
- Giant Investment
- Yunfeng Capital
- A private equity firm that is run by Jack Ma of Alibaba Group Holding
- China Oceanwide Holdings Group
- China Minsheng Trust
- CDH China HF Holdings Company
- Hony Capital Fund
These are who make up the conglomerate that have ownership of Playtika and its free games now. The company still seems to be thriving under their authority. Poker Heat, which is one of the Playtika games, won Facebook game of the year in 2016, and many of the other games are still incredibly popular.
What Playtika Did Right
Even though the company has switched hands twice now, they have kept their founder and CEO on board and have kept the same management team. This is not a common occurrence in businesses, as many companies choose to bring in their own management team and change things around. However, with the success that Playtika has had, it was an easy call to keep the same team. Why fix something if it’s not broken? In other words, Playtika has made some good decisions over the years, and their success is a direct reflection of that.
While not everyone is a huge fan of online games, there is an astonishing amount of people who are. This is displayed in the success of this company, as well as many others. They took an original idea and turned it into something more. That is how triumph is achieved; by taking an idea and putting it into action. The team at Playtika do not consider themselves to be simply game creators. They consider themselves to be artists. They pride themselves on being creative and at keeping on top of what is going on in the world of gaming and social media. This is an important trick of the trade, and their accomplishments reflect that.
