Metacore levels up with Berlin expansion and animation studio acquisition

Both announcements follow a record-breaking year for Metacore's mystery puzzle game Merge Mansion, which recently hit 50 million downloads. To support this, the 2020-launched studio has grown its team from 15 to over 170 professionals in the past three years. The European expansion continues this trend.

“We've been planning our expansion and vetting different markets for quite some time now to support our growth and talent acquisition,” Metacore's CEO, Mika Tammenkoski, said in a release. “Berlin not only has some of the top games talent in the world, but it's also a hotspot for creative industries and entertainment. We can't wait to contribute to and collaborate with this vibrant ecosystem.”

Berlin will initially serve as a home base for the company's newly established feature team and focus on further developing Merge Mansion. Metacore also has multiple new games under development and is hiring both in Helsinki and in Berlin to enable this.

Metacore strongly focuses on storytelling and has gained a reputation for innovative marketing campaigns leveraging Hollywood star power, such as Kathy Bates and Pedro Pascal. Piñata has been the company's animation partner since the start, and the acquisition is a natural next step for Metacore in further building its creative prowess.

“Traditionally, mobile games have been apps on your phone. Our mission is to create entertainment with our games but also with our marketing and community building,” Tammenkoski commented. “Piñata brings us not only animation skills and capabilities but creative storytelling both for our games and marketing.”

Piñata has worked with global gaming, advertising and entertainment brands for 15 years. During that time, the company has expanded from single illustrations to creative storytelling concepts and production. The price and details of the acquisition deal have not been publicly shared. In 2022, Metacore generated 129 million euros in revenue.