GameStop’s eBay bid, Xbox’s leadership reset and Candy Crush’s marketing lessons | Week in Views

Stay Informed

Get Industry News In Your Inbox…

Sign Up Today

The games industry moves quickly and while stories may come and go there are some that we just can’t let go of…

So, to give those particularly thorny topics a further going over we’ve created a weekly digest where the members of the PocketGamer.biz team share their thoughts and go that little bit deeper on some of the more interesting things that have happened in mobile gaming in the past week.

GameStop submits $55bn bid to acquire eBay

If you thought the news that GameStop was bidding $55.5 billion for online marketplace eBay didn’t quite make sense, you’re not alone.

At the time of writing, the retailer has a market cap of approximately $10.8bn. Ebay is worth around $47.3bn.

Interestingly, GameStop already has a 5% stake in Ebay. But now it proposes bidding $125 per share, comprising of 50% cash and 50% GameStop common stock.

GameStop says it has $9.4bn and a “highly confident letter” from TD Securities for up to $20bn. Those funds, plus the company’s entire market cap, still appear to leave it short of the $55.5bn it needs if Ebay was to accept its offer.

The question of how the company can afford such an acquisition was at the centre of a viral CNBC interview. CEO Ryan Cohen did not provide too many more specifics on the deal’s structure in the face of repeated questioning, simply saying the acquisition would be funded by 50% cash, 50% stocks.

You can watch the interview below.

For its part, eBay has said it received an unsolicited proposal from GameStop and would review the offer.

GameStop is famous for becoming a memestock, reaching a market cap of around $33.7bn back in 2021. The past week’s eBay bid hasn’t moved the needle much for its share price.

Microsoft reshuffles Xbox leadership as Asha Sharma pushes turnaround

This week brought more updates from Xbox. It seems that, under Asha Sharma we have had a lot of recent updates and this time it comes down to the leadership team. 

A series of senior hires across various departments have new hires with several coming from the company’s CoreAI division and wider tech rather than traditional games backgrounds. Names like Jared Palmer, Tim Allen and Jonathan McKay are stepping into key roles, while longtime Xbox veterans such as Kevin Gammill and Roanne Sones are moving away from day-to-day leadership positions.

None of this is abnormal, new CEOs often bring in people they’ve worked with before or people who align with what their new vision is. Being in these leadership roles also doesn’t strictly require coming from a big games background, it’s still a technology and entertainment business at its heart and Sharma herself didn’t come up through a traditional games background either.

However, for me it raises a question of balance. A large number of these appointments come from outside gaming and I do wonder about how that will translate to the Xbox brand.

Xbox, over the last two console generations has been lagging behind and it doesn’t need short-term quick fixes. To me, it needs wider stability and rebuilding confidence among its players and you achieve that by catering to gamers’ needs, which means leadership needs to be in tune with those needs. 

We’ll have to wait and see how these new leadership moves impact the approach at Xbox and whether they can strengthen the brand over time. 

All Stars, ASMR and IRL experiences: Candy Crush’s marketing strategy unwrapped

During my recent visit to King’s headquarters in London, I spoke with two members of the marketing team about advertising King’s portfolio of games – including the nuances of promoting Candy Crush 14 years in.

King’s senior director of marketing studio Sian Finnis discussed the advantages of an in-house creative team and how marketing is tailored to different audiences on Facebook, Instagram and beyond.

“On Facebook, we find that mini puzzles and things are really, really engaging for our players,” she said.

Meanwhile, Candy Crush’s senior director, product marketing Roberto Kusabbi spoke with me about IRL experiences and “tentpole” seasons in Candy Crush. Apparently, certain events like All Stars are treated as though they’re a full-on game launch by King.

I found it particularly interesting to learn how marketing differentiates its approach between established players and potential newcomers, especially in the context of broader discussions around UA and user retention we’ve been seeing across the industry.