The new owner, Integrated Media Company, also owns Fandom, Gamespot and Metacritic.
A majority stake in independent game publisher Playstack is being sold to an investment firm called Integrated Media Company (IMG). As first reported Game developerthe publisher owner behind hits like Balatro And The case of the golden idol is selling an 84.5 percent stake to an IMG subsidiary called VantageCo Limited for £112.4 million, or about $151 million. Playstack also released a brief and vague statement from its founder and CEO, Harvey Elliott, that the step represented “a change in ownership, rather than a change in who we are.”
The sale of TruFin’s majority stake to IMG values ​​Playstack at approximately £125 million, or approximately $169 million. IMG’s portfolio did not previously include video game publishers, but the company also owns the Fandom group of brands, which includes Fandom, GameSpot, Metacritic and more.
It’s hard to say what this acquisition means for the deck-building roguelite that captured the hearts of the Woozad team after its 2024 release. We hope it doesn’t mean many changes for Balatro since Playstack is only the publisher and the anonymous developer, localthunk, probably has more influence on the actual gameplay. That said, private equity firms have a reputation for salting the earth for everything they acquire in an effort to maximize their profits.
