PlayStudios, an award-winning developer of free-to-play casual mobile and social games, celebrated its first day of trading as a public company on June 22 and is now poised to make new investments that will expand its content portfolio and attract new brand partnerships for its playAWARDS loyalty marketing platform.
Trading under the ticker symbols MYPS and MYPSW, the debut of PlayStudios on the Nasdaq marks the recent completion of the company’s business combination with Acies Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. The milestone is the culmination of a decade-long effort to establish and maintain the company’s position as a leader within the mobile gaming sector.
“Becoming a public company is validation of all of the hard work that we’ve put into developing our games and our playAWARDS loyalty program,” said Andrew Pascal, PlayStudios founder, chairman and CEO. “We will now move forward with the resources that we need to accelerate our growth.”
PlayStudios launched in 2011, and it continues to grow its portfolio of apps—myVEGAS Slots, my KONAMI Slots, myVEGAS Blackjack, POP! Slots, and the just-released myVEGAS Bingo. Game play is enhanced by the playAWARDS platform, in which players are able to exchange loyalty points for real-world rewards from more than 290 brands.
In 2021 alone, PlayStudios has expanded its catalog of brand partners to include IHG Hotels & Resorts, Innovative Music and Wine Brand City Winery, Global Hospitality Brand, Sycuan Casino Resort and Singing Hills Golf Resort, Las Vegas Ballpark (home of the Las Vegas Aviators professional baseball team) and a partnership expansion with MGM Resorts International to bring MGM Northfield Park to playAWARDS, the 18th MGM Resorts International property to join the loyalty platform.
“Mobile gaming is a highly competitive industry, and long ago we recognized the need for something that is compelling and unique to rise above the noise, while also rewarding players for their time spent in the games,” Pascal said. “PlayAWARDS works because we are able to deliver compelling rewards to our players wherever they are—on vacation or in their own neighborhoods.”
In an interview with the Nevada Independent, Pascal added that going public opens up the possibility of strategic acquisitions.
“As a private company, we had the resources to compete and grow organically, to self-fund new projects and new initiatives, and reinvest our profits back into the business,” Pascal said. “That had been our general approach. We are now able to find and acquire companies that are a great compliment to us,” Pascal said. “It gives us the flexibility to exploit our growth opportunities even more.”
PlayStudios games are available to download free on iOS, Android, Kindle, and Facebook.
