巨人网络停牌重组 将通过收购Playtika进军人工智能 – Xinhua Net
What happened: Giant Network, a leading game development, operation, and publication company, announced its acquisition of Playtika, a smart entertainment game provider based in Israel, for $4.5 billion. China’s regulatory department is reviewing the acquisition. Giant Network hopes the deal would allow it to cut into the field of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, at the moment, Playtika has no portfolio games operating in China.
Why it’s important: Giant Network’s acquisition signals Chinese companies’ increasing diverse artificial intelligence strategies. Directly purchasing AI product design or R&D assets is a regular approach but may pose high opportunity cost thresholds for some companies. The Playtika case provides an alternative way to enter a sector that hasn’t seen much AI applications, including user data and game operation optimization. Playtika’s major casual casino card games will be a good use case for Giant Network to learn through acquisition.