Playstudios to Expand into Fast-Growing $6 Billion Squad RPG and $600 Million Bingo Markets as Publisher Goes Public

Playstudios is set to become the latest mobile games publisher to go public, and has set its sights on expanding and diversifying into the lucrative Bingo and Squad RPG markets.

M&A activity has heated up in the games industry over the past few years, and in particular the last 12 months. While that looks set to continue in 2021, this year will also host a plethora of public offerings. Last year saw double-digit revenue growth in every mobile game genre in the U.S., according to the Sensor Tower Game Taxonomy. Now publishers are looking to cash in on that success, and firms set to go public include the likes of Roblox Corporation, Nexters, Huuuge Games, and now Playstudios, who we congratulate on its move. We’ve previously shown how M&A activity can shake up the category leaders in the mobile games sector, and by going public, these firms will be aiming to increase their footprint in the hottest markets.

Fast Risers

Playstudios is eyeing up growth in the fast-growing Bingo and Squad RPG subgenres with new titles such as myVEGAS Bingo and Kingdom Boss. According to Sensor Tower Game Intelligence, the Squad RPG category racked up $5.9 billion in revenue in 2020, up 50 percent year-over-year. Player spending in Squad RPGs accounted for 25.5 percent of total RPG revenue, which accumulated $23.1 billion last year. As for downloads, Squad RPGs generated 296 million installs last year, an increase of 35 percent Y/Y. It accounted for 17.4 percent of the total 1.7 billion RPG category downloads.

"We're seeing double-digit growth in the Squad RPG subgenre with Western developers such as Scopely and Plarium (Aristocrat) generating an increasingly large share of their total portfolio revenue from these titles," said Sensor Tower's Head of Gaming, Chirag Ambwani. "As the mobile gaming market matures, this genre is poised for significant future growth and innovation."

Bingo games, meanwhile, generated $601 million from player spending in 2020, an increase of nearly 54 percent Y/Y. The subgenre makes up 8.2 percent of the $7.3 billion casino market. When it comes to downloads, Bingo games accumulated 53 million downloads in 2020. This accounted for 6.4 percent of Casino category installs, which generated 827 million downloads last year.

The Time is Now

By going public, publishers are looking to strike while the iron is hot, using funds raised to grow existing portfolios and expand through new game development and acquisitions. Going public doesn’t come without its challenges, however, and brings with it increased scrutiny on business practices and a promise of growth in the short and long-term. But publishers may argue that now is as good a time as any, as the market consolidates and the fast-growing firms increasingly leave their rivals in the dust.