Hachette U.K. Buys Mobile Game Company Neon Play & Will Create Stand-Alone Mobile Business

Hachette has bought mobile games development studios Neon Play in a “substantial” acquisition. Hachette c.e.o. Tim Hely Hutchinson has said the acquisition “could be one of several” for the company in the app space.

Neon Play was founded by co-owners Oli Christie and Mark Allen in Cirencester in 2010 and to date has created over 30 games, including Paper Glider, Flick Football and Panic Traffic London, attracting over 60m downloads.

The studio, which has won 20 business awards including the Queen’s Award for Innovation, will be tasked with "creating, developing and marketing new mobile games” as a standalone business under the Hachette UK umbrella.

Although terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, Hely Hutchinson said it was a "substantial acquisition designed to lead to substantial revenues”, and was also a "serious first step" for Hachette in a bid to make its business "more digital”.