888 Holdings purchase Mytopia for up to $48 million

By Daniel Johnson

Mytopia, the game studio launched by Real Dice back in March 2008 has been purchased by online gambling company 888 Holdings. The total value of the acquisition has been capped at $48 million, with an initial payment of $18 million in stock and cash followed by increments of $6 million depending on Mytopia’s profit performance in 2011.

Mytopia started out providing a way for players to play games with friends from social networking sites such as Facebook, as well as from smart phones and iPads, but since went on to develop games such as Bingo Island 2 and Pacific Poker, as well as the tools for developers to make cross-platform games. The move will allow 888 to move into social games and mobile platforms, allowing them to target future customers. It is thought that 888 will use Mytopia to steer customers towards their paid gaming portals.
The acquisition could mark a change in 888’s fortunes, as the company has lost over half its share price since November and has made a significant amount of layoffs. Mytopia’s recent fortunes have not fared much better, having lost $100,000 in 2009 and 888 themselves announcing in a statement that the company has “no significant book value”.

Meanwhile, it seems that former owners Real Dice are moving into the software licensing business, as their website now redirects to a so far empty holding page called Particle Code. According to it profile on business-oriented social networking site Linkedin, this is a cross-platform development tool for mobile devices.