RealNetworks is shedding some of its gaming assets, announcing an agreement to sell is Slingo and Social Casino games business to London-based Gaming Realms.
As part of the $18 million deal, RealNetworks will sell its U.S. and Canadian game studios as well as games such as Slingo Adventure, Slingo Shuffle and GameHouse Casino Plus. It will also sell the Slingo brand and patents, as well as domains such as Mahjong.com, Sudoku.com and Slingo.com domains and a temporary license of the Gamehouse brand.
“With this transaction, we are accomplishing three key objectives,” said RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser in a release. “We are deriving value from our Slingo and Social Casino business; we are pairing this team and business with an excellent partner in Gaming Realms who will leverage our great Slingo and casino assets into real money gaming; and we are redoubling our focus on our traditional casual games business which we believe is financially stable and poised for success.”
RealNetworks said it is committed to its casual games business, which includes more than 100,000 subscribers and is headquartered in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
As part of the deal, 60 employees from RealNetworks will move to Gaming Realms.
“We believe that our social gaming business will enjoy significant synergy with Gaming Realms’ real money and social gaming operations as we have already seen with Gaming Realms’ early market success of Slingo Riches,” said Atul Bali, President of RealNetworks’ games division. Bali will split time between RealNetworks’ casual games business and overseeing the acquired business as an executive director of Gaming Realms.
RealNetworks continues to undergo a transformation under Glaser, who officially returned as CEO last summer after serving as the interim boss. The company laid off a small number of employees last week. The cutbacks came about a year after RealNetworks laid off 85 staffers, roughly about 10 percent of its staff.
In May, RealNetworks launched its latest product offering, dubbed RealTimes, that helps smartphone users create short video montages from existing photos and videos. It is the latest effort by RealNetworks — founded in 1994 by Glaser and a pioneer in audio and video streaming — to gain relevance in today’s tech market.
The company is now valued at $182 million, and the stock jumped six percent on today’s news, trading just above $5 per share. The stock is still off more than 28 percent this year.
