GTA Parent Company Take-Two Buys Surprise Developer In Largest Video Game Acquisition To Date

Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive just announced it's acquiring Zynga, the company behind a number of highly successful mobile games including Farmville.

The two companies announced today that Take-Two is set to acquire Zynga in a deal that values the company at $12.7 billion, making it the largest acquisition ever seen in the video game industry. Microsoft purchased Bethesda and its entire stable of massive IPs for $7.5 billion, for context.

Founded in San Francisco in 2007, Zynga is a social game developer best known for free-to-play titles like Farmville, Words With Friends, and Mafia Wars. It's also currently working on a Star Wars video game.

Take-Two said in a press release that this is a "transformative combination" of companies that establishes Take-Two "one of the largest and most diversified mobile game publishers in the industry."

"We are thrilled to announce our transformative transaction with Zynga, which significantly diversifies our business and establishes our leadership position in mobile, the fastest growing segment of the interactive entertainment industry," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said. "This strategic combination brings together our best-in-class console and PC franchises, with a market-leading, diversified mobile publishing platform that has a rich history of innovation and creativity.

"Zynga also has a highly talented and deeply experienced team, and we look forward to welcoming them into the Take-Two family in the coming months. As we combine our complementary businesses and operate at a much larger scale, we believe that we will deliver significant value to both sets of stockholders, including $100 million of annual cost synergies within the first two years post-closing and at least $500 million of annual Net Bookings opportunities over time."

Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau added that this new partnership "further advance our mission to connect the world through games while achieving significant growth and synergies together."

So... Farmville X Grand Theft Auto when?