Culver City-based mobile game company Scopely has acquired another studio: Scrabble GO developer PierPlay.
Also headquartered in Culver City, PierPlay has been a partner with Scopely since its formation in 2016, collaborating on Scrabble GO, a virtual version of the popular word game that launched this January. The game currently boasts more than 2.5 million daily users and 10 million total installs, and ranked as the most-downloaded word game at launch.
PierPlay’s co-founder and CEO Lorenzo Nuvoletta — a mobile game vet who previously worked at Candy Crush developer King and Israeli studio Playtika — will continue to manage the studio.
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Scopely has seen significant growth recently, expanding its footprint in Culver City last year by acquiring 60,000 square feet of office space and various game studios, such as DIGIT Game Studios, the Dublin-based developer that created the company’s Star Trek Fleet Command, last year and FoxNext Studios from Disney in January. In March, Scopely secured $400 million in Series D funding from the Chernin Group and Advance, the investment company founded and run by the Newhouse family.
“Our studio ecosystem, which includes both internal and external creative leaders, is built upon the goal of working with the world’s best talent to create the most immersive experiences possible. PierPlay is another example of a unique studio relationship that allowed us to successfully tackle a different game genre and IP,” said Scopely chief revenue officer Tim O’Brien.
“The success we’ve seen with Scrabble GO has been amazing, and we look forward to tackling more exciting projects in the development slate,” said Nuvoletta. “Having experienced the momentum and growth of the business firsthand, we are extremely excited to officially be part of Scopely.”
