GTA publisher Take-Two completes $12.7bn takeover of Farmville developer Zynga

Take-Two has now completed its eye-catching $12.7bn purchase of Zynga, the mobile and social games maker behind hits such as Farmville, CSR Racing and Words with Friends.

The deal was first announced back in January, when it was briefly the most expensive video games acquisition of all time – until Microsoft’s proposed $68.7bn buyout from Activision Blizzard.

Take-Two is the company behind some of video gaming’s biggest names, such as Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, BioShock and Mafia.

Back in January, Take-Two said it wanted Zynga to be able to make mobile games based on its existing IP. It’s fun to imagine a Red Dead Redemption ranch-style Farmville, or a GTA/CSR crossover where you nick each other’s motors.

But this deal is also about providing mobile development chops for Take-Two, as well. Why isn’t there a native GTA Online game for mobile? Perhaps with Zynga, Take-Two will have the mobile-savvy know how to pull that off.

“Combining Zynga’s expertise in mobile and next-generation platforms with Take-Two’s best-in-class capabilities and intellectual property will enable us to further advance our mission to connect the world through games while achieving significant growth and synergies together,” Zynga boss Frank Gibeau said back in January.

“We are thrilled to complete our combination with Zynga,” Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said this week. “As we bring together our exceptional talent, exciting pipelines of games, and industry-leading technologies and capabilities, we believe that we can take our portfolio to another level of creativity, innovation, and quality.”