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Love at First Sight: Kwalee Acquires Narrative Specialists Tictales

Published

4 years ago

January 24, 2022

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Kwalee, a world-leading game developer and multiplatform publisher, has made its first ever studio acquisition with a deal that brings French developer Tictales into its increasingly-global family.

Established as one of the world’s foremost mobile game developers and publishers, Kwalee has achieved more than 750 million downloads across its hypercasual games portfolio.

The deal to buy Tictales is the first acquisition by Kwalee in its 10-year history, signalling its serious intent to build upon global hypercasual success with both casual and hybrid-casual titles.

Tictales, whose narrative-based mobile games have been downloaded more than 6 million times and played for more than 350 million hours, will continue to operate with creative independence while benefiting from Kwalee’s marketing expertise.

Screenshot from Perfume of Love by Tictales

14 games have been developed and published by Tictales since the studio’s founding in 2015, including Perfume of Love, Fictions and Swiit Crush – Interactive Stories. The company specialises in free-to-play romance narrative games, and its titles are acclaimed by fans globally.

Headquartered in Leamington Spa, UK, Kwalee has doubled in size over the past year thanks to rapid global expansion. The developer and publisher also has offices in Bangalore, India and Beijing, China along with remote team members all around the world. With the acquisition of Tictales, the company now has team members spread across 18 countries.

Kwalee boasts the world’s most prolific hypercasual games development studio, having published more than 40 number one mobile games – most of which were developed by a dedicated internal team. Internal development is complemented by a dedicated mobile game publishing team working with talented developers all over the world, led by SEGA and Ubisoft veteran Will Cox.

“We have been committed since day one to creating amazing mobile fiction for our audience and I’m very proud of all the team members of Tictales for this milestone,” said Christophe Chocho, Sales Manager and Co-Founder of Tictales.

“The long-term vision of Tictales is to bring bigger franchises to the world, with our production capacity increasing and new talents joining our team. We and Kwalee share the same philosophy about high-quality games and we cannot wait to show our exciting new projects to the world.”

“Our talented team crafts the best narrative experiences for fans to enjoy for many years,” added Harouna Camara, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Tictales.

“Joining Kwalee allows us to concentrate on these passions and specialisms while benefiting from their expertise, particularly in marketing and publishing.”

“It’s a proud moment for us to make Kwalee’s first acquisition, and Tictales is the perfect partner,” said Kwalee CEO David Darling.

“With their successful track record of casual mobile games and ability to tell a compelling story through their games, their ambitions match our own and we’re looking forward to building collective success.”

A legend of the UK games industry who co-founded Codemasters and led the company for 20+ years before establishing Kwalee, Darling is writing yet another chapter in his decades-long gaming career with this acquisition – and he’s not ruling out more deals for companies with complementary skill-sets.

David Darling, CEO of Kwalee

Developers with hypercasual, hybrid-casual or casual mobile games can submit, market-test and get their games published using the Kwalee Publishing Portal. In a process that takes only minutes, all that’s needed are a few 15-second gameplay videos, or a simple prototype: https://www.kwalee.com/publish-with-us/.

blask

New Blask heatmap tracks real-time interest across World Cup 2026 nations

Published

21 minutes ago

June 16, 2026

Wladimir P.

new-blask-heatmap-tracks-real-time-interest-across-world-cup-2026-nations

Blask has launched the Blask World Cup Index, a free interactive map showing daily interest across the majority of the 48 nations competing in the 2026 tournament. It runs for the duration of the competition.

Blask updates the map every 24 hours. Countries where interest towards the major football tournament grows over the previous day turn green. Countries where it fell turn red. Unchanged markets stay grey. Hover over any country for a quick snapshot, click through for a multi-day view, or follow the leaderboard of the fastest-rising and falling markets.

What the Blask World Cup Index measures
Blask World Cup Index draws from the Blask Index, Blask’s measure of iGaming search volume within a given market. On the landing page it tracks football related categories: how actively people in each country are searching for odds, match markets and other football-related content tied to the 2026 tournament.

Country cards show day-by-day trends; a daily leaderboard surfaces the daily World Cup Index and its change with the previous day. Visitors can track how interest in their country builds in the days before their team’s next match and how fast it collapses after an exit. The leaderboard shows which nation leads the index and how that position shifts with results. For operators and affiliates, the most actionable view is a market where interest is growing faster than the team’s performance would predict — the signal that precedes a volume spike.

After a 4-1 victory over Paraguay, the United States leads our World Cup Interest Index with 14.4 million demand points — more than three times ahead of second-placed Brazil (4.28 million), despite the Seleção’s global popularity. Germany sits third with 3.15 million following a 7-1 win over Curaçao, while England (2.53 million) and Egypt (2.22 million) round out the top five ahead of their opening group-stage matches.

To put the 2026 data in context, Blask has published two research reports drawing on iGaming activity across the 2018 and 2022 World Cups — one covering six European markets (UK, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy), one covering six LATAM markets.

The data shows the effect is not automatic: Germany posted positive acquisition signals at both tournaments despite group-stage exits; Peru surged +41% in 2022 without qualifying; Colombia fell 14% the same year.

Both reports include country-level APS data, cross-market patterns, and 2026 projections.

The post New Blask heatmap tracks real-time interest across World Cup 2026 nations appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Ani Isakhanyan Head of Rights and Content at FeedConstruct

FeedConstruct adds Ecuador’s Liga Básquet Pro to global basketball rights

Published

21 minutes ago

June 16, 2026

Wladimir P.

feedconstruct-adds-ecuador’s-liga-basquet-pro-to-global-basketball-rights

Supplier takes exclusive worldwide streaming and data rights for all matches in Ecuador’s top men’s league.

FeedConstruct has acquired the exclusive worldwide streaming and data rights for all matches of the Liga Básquet Pro, Ecuador’s premier men’s basketball competition.

The deal adds another Latin American basketball property to FeedConstruct’s rights portfolio, as the supplier positions its content for sportsbook customers seeking additional live betting inventory.

“This partnership with FeedConstruct marks a decisive step in the international projection of Ecuadorian basketball,” said Enrique Zeballos Márquez, President of Liga Básquet Pro. “Working with a global leader in sports media and data rights allows us to maximise the value of our competition, safeguard the integrity of its data, and bring it to new audiences worldwide.”

Ani Isakhanyan, Head of Rights and Content at FeedConstruct, said: “We are excited to expand our regional basketball portfolio with the addition of Liga Básquet Pro. With its passionate fan base and strong competitive profile, the league brings valuable content opportunities to our network of more than 100 operators worldwide.”

FeedConstruct said the acquisition supports its continued expansion across emerging betting markets and strengthens its basketball rights offering.

The post FeedConstruct adds Ecuador’s Liga Básquet Pro to global basketball rights appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Ani Isakhanyan Head of Rights and Content at FeedConstruct

FeedConstruct Adds Ecuador’s Liga Básquet Pro to Its Global Basketball Rights Portfolio

Published

21 minutes ago

June 16, 2026

GamingAmericas.com

feedconstruct-adds-ecuador’s-liga-basquet-pro-to-its-global-basketball-rights-portfolio

FeedConstruct has acquired the exclusive worldwide streaming and data rights for all matches of the Liga Básquet Pro, Ecuador’s premier men’s basketball competition.

Latin America continues to emerge as a fast-growing market for the sports betting industry, with basketball playing an increasingly important role in regional engagement. The Liga Básquet Pro has helped elevate the sport’s visibility in Ecuador while building a passionate local fan base. With its growing commercial appeal and competitive matchups, the league continues to strengthen its position within the Latin American basketball ecosystem.

The addition of the competition enables sportsbooks to deliver consistent and engaging basketball content to bettors while benefiting from favorable regional time zones that support increased betting activity and stronger player engagement.

“This partnership with FeedConstruct marks a decisive step in the international projection of Ecuadorian basketball,” said Enrique Zeballos Márquez, President of Liga Básquet Pro. “Working with a global leader in sports media and data rights allows us to maximise the value of our competition, safeguard the integrity of its data, and bring it to new audiences worldwide.”

Ani Isakhanyan, Head of Rights and Content at FeedConstruct, commented: “We are excited to expand our regional basketball portfolio with the addition of Liga Básquet Pro. With its passionate fan base and strong competitive profile, the league brings valuable content opportunities to our network of more than 100 operators worldwide.”

The acquisition further strengthens FeedConstruct’s basketball rights portfolio and supports the company’s continued expansion across emerging betting markets worldwide.

The post FeedConstruct Adds Ecuador’s Liga Básquet Pro to Its Global Basketball Rights Portfolio appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.