Opera opens new video game division and confirms YoYo Games purchase

Opera has confirmed the purchase of GameMaker Studio creator YoYo Games, and explained the deal will form the basis for a new video game division called Opera Gaming. 

YoYo Games' previous owner Playtech revealed it had sold the company for $10 million earlier this week, but neglected to name the buyer. 

There were, however, some rumblings that web browser developer Opera had picked up YoYo, and now the software company has confirmed as much. 

In a statement issued today, Opera said the deal represents the second building block in the foundation of Opera Gaming, with the first being the creation of  the world's first gaming browser, Opera GX. 

For those who haven't heard of Opera GX, the browser (pictured below) launched in 2019 and is designed to attract "gamers" with features including sound effects, background music, a unique neon design, Twitch integration, and CPU, RAM, and Network Bandwidth limiters that make the browser less resource-hungry. 

Opera hopes it can expand its video game footprint by uniting Opera GX and YoYo Games, and has pledged to drive the growth of GameMaker by making it more accessible to new users while also "developing it into the worlds leading 2D game engine used by commercial studios." 

"Opera Gaming will be focusing on accelerating the growth of this emerging ecosystem, combining the 7+ million highly engaged gamers using Opera GX  with millions of GameMaker creators. We are also thrilled to continue realizing synergies between YoYo Games’ products and Opera GX," said Krystian Kolondra, EVP Browsers at Opera, in a press release.

"We are very excited to start working with the team at YoYo Games. We see the Game Maker Studio platform as being an ideal acquisition to complement our global ambitions in gaming, and to help drive awareness and traffic to our Opera GX gaming browser."