Aristocrat Leisure has completed the US$620m sale of Plarium Global to Modern Times Group amid a shake-up of the company’s Big Fish Games operations.
The sale of Plarium Global was announced in November last year after an Aristocrat strategic review looked into casual and mid-core gaming assets in May 2024.
Aristocrat will reinvest the money into its long-term growth strategy, with an update to be provided on February 20 at the company’s annual general meeting.
As for Big Fish Games, the segment will be solely focused on the operation of its evergreen titles. There will be no new game development and “significantly reduced investment” in the Big Fish portfolio.
Aristocrat will retire the Pixel United reporting segment and remaining Pixel United corporate team structure.
Effective from the group’s first half results reporting – for the six months to March 31, 2025 – Product Madness will replace the Pixel United reporting segment and will include results from both Product Madness, Aristocrat’s core social slots business, and Big Fish.
Plarium will become a discontinued operation with its contributions excluded from net profit after tax and before amortisation of acquired tangibles calculations (NAPTA).
Superna Kalle, Aristocrat’s chief strategy officer, will assume responsibility for Product Madness.
Aristocrat chief executive officer and managing director, Trevor Croker, said: “With the completion of the strategic review of our casual and mid-core gaming assets, Aristocrat is well-placed to accelerate our refreshed growth strategy.
“We are deepening management focus and targeting investment behind our core strengths in regulated gaming and gaming-themed content, to unlock new and adjacent opportunities across global markets.
“The outcomes of the review reflect Aristocrat’s ongoing focus on driving shareholder value, with the benefit of clear choices and a commitment to growth.”
