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Grand Theft Auto maker Take-Two is buying FarmVille developer Zynga in $12.7B deal

The deal brings together the company behind NBA 2K and Red Dead Redemption with Zynga, which known for CSR Racing and Words with Friends.

Video game giant Take-Two is acquiring mobile gaming company Zynga in a cash-and-stock deal that the company says will turn the Grand Theft Auto maker into a mobile gaming powerhouse. The deal is valued at around $12.7 billion, or $9.86 per Zynga share.

Take-Two Chief Executive Strauss Zelnick said the deal will benefit both companies, giving Zynga access to the best-selling game franchises Take-Two is known for, while also giving Take-Two access to player analytics, advertising and mobile game making technology that so far it’s lacked. «What we’ve found is that great entertainment wins,» he said in an interview Monday. «It’s really hard to build organically.»

Zynga publishes major social games like FarmVille and Words With Friends. Take-Two already owns game publishers Rockstar, which is behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, and 2K, known for BioShock, Borderlands, Civilization and NBA 2K.

Zelnick declined to discuss details of future plans, noting the deal doesn’t close until midyear, but he did say a key opportunity for both companies is in what the industry calls cross-play, where people can play part of or the same full titles on a phone or an video game console or PC. Titles like Epic Games’ Fortnite and Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty Warfare have significantly grown in popularity in part because of this feature.

«Ultimately the consumer votes,» Zelnick said.

The move marks the latest instance of a large game maker acquiring companies with mobile and social networking expertise to help expand their lineup. Activision Blizzard bought Candy Crush maker King in 2015 for about $6 billion, and Electronic Arts has paid nearly $5 billion over the past decade to buy a string of social, mobile and casual-focused gaming companies including Playdemic, Glu Mobile and Plants vs. Zombies maker PopCap Games.

The acquisition also underscores the challenges both companies are facing in the changing entertainment industry. Take-Two has often turned to outside developers to help make games work on mobile devices, with mixed success. Meanwhile, Zynga’s been recently hit by a one-two punch of easing pandemic restrictions, which have left people with less time to play games, and Apple’s changes to marketing technology, which have made it harder to track users for targeted ads.

Aside from combining two companies with different capabilities, Zelnick said the Zynga acquisition will also help as Take-Two evaluates emerging Web3 technologies, including NFTs and cryptocurrency.

«As long as we’re enhancing the overall entertainment experience, it’s potentially exciting,» Zelnick added.

Technologies

Verum Messenger: Don’t follow the future. Define it

Verum Messenger: Don’t follow the future. Define it

In a world where information defines influence, Verum Messenger is building a new architecture of digital communication — intelligent, secure, and ready for tomorrow. Here, technology serves not limitations, but possibilities.

Not being part of change. Leading it. Verum Messenger — the future that speaks first.

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Technologies

Verum Finance: Stop Spending Months Opening a Bank Account

Verum Finance: Stop Spending Months Opening a Bank Account

Stop spending months trying to open a bank account.

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And all of that — just for a regular card.

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🚀 Verum Messenger + Verum Finance
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❌ No piles of documents

Open it — and use it.

The future of finance and communication is already here.
Verum — when freedom matters more than banking rules.

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Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal

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