Spain-based gaming studio Bluetile's AI-first DNA was the biggest reason for Nazara Technologies to write its largest ever cheque, founder Nitish Mittersain told Moneycontrol.
"They are a team of 30-40 people and are generating revenue of Rs 1,400–1,500 crore per year. So, the per-head revenue is about Rs 40 crore, which is quite crazy. That is possible because they have integrated AI well in their workstream," Mittersain said.
"Given the team’s tech-savvy background, they can become a powerful engine for us on the AI side. Many of our other businesses can learn and benefit from that," he added.
Bluetile was started by MIT alumnus Raymond Stauffer, who previously worked at Google, while the leadership team has experience in leading gaming and technology companies including Zynga, King, Voodoo, Moonactive, and Meta.
What is the Nazara-Bluetile deal?
On March 18, Nazara Technologies announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire a 50 percent controlling stake in both Bluetile and rewards-driven gaming platform BestPlay for $100.3 million (Rs 918 crore).
The company holds the right to acquire the remaining 50 percent stake by 2028, which might push the total deal size to $340 million. The purchase will be done through Nazara's UK subsidiary.
Mittersain said the deal has been in the works for about a year. "We met the founder (Raymond Stauffer) and started discussions in March 2025 and then met the team in Barcelona in July to take it forward. There have been a lot of negotiations over the past eight–nine months," he said.
"We don't like to do things in FOMO (fear of missing out). We prefer to take our time and be very diligent on the due diligence," Mittersain said.
How will Bluetile and BestPlay acquisition help Nazara?
This acquisition establishes a scalable platform across the entire value chain, including AI-enabled game development, distribution, publishing and engagement across the company's global gaming portfolio, Nazara said.
The company aims to accelerate the creation, optimisation and global scaling of next-generation casual and social gaming titles. It will do so by combining Bluetile’s AI-driven development and live-operations capabilities with BestPlay’s rewarded engagement and distribution platform.
Bluetile has shipped five games in six months through a reusable AI-powered game template, thereby targeting 50 percent faster development, Nazara said. This enables the company to enter high-potential verticals earlier and become a fast-follower in breakout categories.
How has Nazara’s acquisition spree evolved in recent years?
Nazara’s acquisition spree has grown in the past few years, as the country's only listed gaming company looks to strengthen its core gaming business.
In 2024, tt acquired UK-based gaming studio Fusebox Games for Rs 228 crore in an all-cash deal. In May 2025, it purchased UK-based game publisher Curve Games for Rs 247 crore.
One of its most significant investments was a 47.7 percent stake in Moonshine Technology, the parent firm of online poker platform PokerBaazi in September 2024. However, the company later took a Rs 914.7 crore writedown in November 2025 after the government's online gaming law imposed a blanket ban on real-money games in the country.
The deals came on the back of the Mumbai-based firm raising Rs 495 crore in January 2025 and a Rs 855-crore funding round in November 2024.
The Bluetile acquisition is expected to expand Nazara's casual gaming portfolio apart from creating a cross-promotion channel across its entire network.
"The scale is significant. It is almost equivalent to our size," he said.
What does Bluetile do?
Started in 2019 as Playvalve, Bluetile operates a diversified portfolio of popular casual, social mobile games, including titles such as Yatzy, Domino Legends, Mahjong Voyage and Spade Stars. The platform has recorded nearly 375 million downloads with 22 million monthly active users across 17 live games.
BestPlay, which acts as a built-in player acquisition, retention and cross-promotion engine across its game portfolio, contributes an additional 2.2 million monthly active users.
The platform has embedded AI across its operating stack, spanning game development, data infrastructure, marketing and live operations. These AI-assisted development pipelines enable Bluetile to significantly compress development cycles.
"Over the past several years, we’ve built a platform where technology and AI play a central role in helping us develop and scale games faster, stay lean operationally, and maximise user monetization. Nazara brings global scale, capital and strategic expertise that will allow us to accelerate growth and expand our portfolio worldwide," Stauffer said.
Bluetile and BestPlay reported a combined revenue of $153.6 million (around Rs 1,405 crore) for the calendar year 2025 (CY25) with an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $27.7 million (Rs 254 crore). The companies had posted a combined revenue of $82.1 million (Rs 751 crore) in CY24 and $50.1 million in CY23.
How is the Nazara-Bluetile deal structured?
Nazara UK will initially acquire 50 percent stake each in Bluetile and BestPlay for $100.3 million (around Rs 918 crore). Of this, $59.7 million (around Rs 546 crore) is payable at first close, with the remaining $40.6 million (around Rs 372 crore) within six months from first close. It will largely be funded by the company's cash on balance sheet.
Out of the $100.3 million, Bluetile is expected to get $88.4 million (Rs 809 crore) and BestPlay $11.9 million (Rs 109 crore).
Nazara has the right to buy the remaining 50 percent stake by 2028. The price will be calculated at 6.6 times the company's trailing calendar year's EBITDA of the sellers.
A substantial portion will be funded from Bluetile and BestPlay's cash flows as well as additional equity or debt at an appropriate time. Nazara also has an option to pay up to 25 percent of each instalment payable in company equity.
The transaction also includes performance-linked earn-outs, with the most probable payout estimated at $98.2 million. These earnout payments are contingent on achievement of revenue and EBITDA targets for CY2027–2029 and payable between 2028 and 2030.
"Seventy percent of the payout is contingent on performance for 5 years. This will incentivise the team and also de-risk the transaction," Mittersain said.
In the December quarter, Nazara reported operational revenue of Rs 406 crore, down 24.1 percent from the year-ago period. The drop was driven by the deconsolidation of esports firm Nodwin Gaming.
When adjusted for the change, revenue growth stood at 9.8 percent year-on-year, the company said. EBITDA rose by 29 percent to Rs 67.8 crore.
The mobile gaming unit's revenues remained largely flat at Rs 156 crore, while PC and console publishing reported revenues of Rs 70.9 crore.
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