Zynga Inc., a leading social game developer, announced it has acquired privately-held mobile game developer Gram Games for $250 million in cash and a three-year earn out based on the team’s achievement of profitability goals that align with Zynga’s long-term growth plans.

This acquisition brings to Zynga a talented team with a proven track record of developing highly engaging mobile games across multiple genres played by millions of people daily. Zynga expects its acquisition of Gram Games will be an additional catalyst to its growth and delivery of its long-term profitability targets.

The acquisition of Gram Games aligns with Zynga’s strategic priorities to grow its live services, create new forever franchises and build out its capabilities on emerging platforms.

Founded in 2012, Gram Games is an innovative mobile game developer with studios in London and Istanbul. Its team of 77 employees is focused on delivering engaging entertainment experiences in the hyper-casual and puzzle genres. Their mobile games include nine titles that have collectively been downloaded more than 170 million times by players around the world. Gram Games’ live game portfolio is anchored by their hit game Merge Dragons!, which launched less than a year ago and broke into the Top 50 Grossing Game charts in the U.S. Apple App Store. The team also has the popular puzzle game 1010!, in addition to several other hyper-casual games.

The acquisition of Gram Games grows Zynga’s audience by three million mobile daily active users (DAU), and also expands Zynga’s new game pipeline by adding several Gram Games titles in development for 2019 and beyond.

“We’ve been impressed by the unique culture that Gram Games has created, as well as their innovative approach to game making,” said Frank Gibeau, Zynga CEO. “By acquiring Gram Games, we’re expanding our portfolio of live game franchises, while also adding a number of exciting new starts to our pipeline of future games. In particular, we’re huge fans of Merge Dragons! and believe it has the potential to be a new forever franchise for Zynga.”

“We are proud to join Zynga and combine Gram Games’ unique culture, talented team and hit games with Zynga’s world-class organization,” said Mehmet Ecevit, Gram Games CEO. “We believe deeply in Zynga’s mission to connect the world through games and are excited to work with Frank and the rest of the Zynga team on our next phase of growth.”

Looking ahead, Zynga will apply its live services expertise to grow the Gram Games portfolio through innovative bold beats that deepen engagement with existing and new players.

Zynga also expects to bring its studio operations and publishing organization expertise to Gram Games, with a focus on achieving greater levels of success and scale through improved user acquisition, advertising, network support and platform partner relations.