Playtika (Playtika Holding Corp.) is an

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

-based digital entertainment company specializing in the development and publication of mobile games. In 2021, Playtika had over 35 million monthly active users.

History

The company was founded in 2010 by Robert Antokol and Uri Shahak (son of former Chief of Staff of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

and Israeli Minister

Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Amnon Lipkin-Shahak ( he, אמנון ליפקין-שחק; March 18, 1944 – December 19, 2012) was an Israeli military officer and politician. He served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, as a Member of the Knesset, and as Minister o ...

). In May 2011, the company was bought by

Caesars Entertainment Corporation Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...

. Antokol remained the CEO of Playtika, and the company remained an independent unit within Caesars. In July 2016, the company's operations were acquired by a Chinese consortium, valued at 4.4 billion dollars. Headquartered in

Herzliya Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it h ...

, Israel, the company has over three thousand employees in offices worldwide including Tel-Aviv, London,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Vienna,

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Montreal, Chicago, Los Angeles,

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Santa Monica,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Buenos Aires, Tokyo,

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

, and

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; uk, Вінниця, ; yi, װיניצע) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast and the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. A ...

. Playtika started off in the casino-style genre of "Social Casino Games". This genre uses the central elements of popular

casino games Games available in most casinos are commonly called casino games. In a casino game, the players gamble cash or casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes. Casino games are also available in online casinos, wher ...

but players cannot use real cash within the gameplay, nor can they win real money. At January 2018, Playtika set up a $400 million Israel investment fund. The fund plans to invest in Israeli mobile and Internet digital entertainment and consumer product companies. In October 2017, Playtika entered the casual games niche with its acquisition of the Israeli-based games studio, Jelly Button. In December 2018, the company took another step in its new diversification strategy with the acquisition of Berlin-based casual games studio, Wooga. In January 2019, the company acquired a Vienna-based casual games studio, Super treat. In May 2019, the company launched an independent division dedicated to the creation and rapid development of casual games which plans to launch several new games every year. The announcement introducing the new independent division was made at the company's Global Summit in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

, where over 2,500 employees from Playtika's 16 locations around the world gathered for a company event. In August 2019, Playtika acquired Finnish mobile game company Seriously, publisher of Best Fiends, a cartoon-style mobile game that launched in 2014. In March 2020, Playtika will donate its catered meals and food to local communities to provide relief for the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In January 2021, Playtika filed for an IPO. On January 20, 2021, Playtika completed its initial public offering of approximately 80M shares of common stock at $27 per share. In March 2022, Playtika announced the company had acquired the Israel-based, online building and shooting simulator software development company JustPlay.LOL, most known for creating the multiplayer game 1V1.LOL.

Games

The company operates the following games, among others: * ''Best Fiends'' – puzzle video game * '' Bingo Blitz'' – bingo * ''Board Kings'' – casual game /

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

style * ''Caesars Slots'' –

slot machines A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively as ...

* ''House of Fun'' – slot machines * ''June's Journey'' –

hidden object game A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a puzzle video game genre in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games are a popular trend in casu ...

* ''Pearls Peril'' – hidden object game * ''Pirate Kings'' * ''Poker Heat'' – Texas hold 'em online poker * ''

Slotomania ''Slotomania'' is a free casual mobile game developed by the Israeli studio Playtika in 2011. The game can be played on both the iPhone and iPad, as well as on the Android and Windows Phone platforms. History Slotomania was first released ...

'' – slot machines * ''Solitaire Grand Harvest'' – solitaire card game * ''Vegas Downtown Slots'' – slot machines * ''World Series of Poker'' –

Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...

online poker based on the TV series of the same name

References

External links

* {{Finance links , name = Playtika Holding Corp. , symbol = PLTK , sec_cik = PLTK , yahoo = PLTK , google = PLTK Video game companies established in 2010 Israeli companies established in 2010 Video game development companies Video game companies of Israel 2021 initial public offerings Companies listed on the Nasdaq Companies based in Herzliya

History

Games

See also

References

External links