Aristocrat restructures social gaming business, rebrands as Product Madness

February 13, 2025

Aristocrat restructures social gaming business, rebrands as Product Madness

Aristocrat Leisure Limited has announced a major restructuring of its social gaming division, renaming the former Pixel United segment as Product Madness. This move follows the successful sale of Plarium Global Limited to Modern Times Group, marking a shift in Aristocrat’s focus towards its core strengths in regulated gaming and gaming-themed content.

Sale of Plarium completed

Aristocrat confirmed in an ASX filing on Thursday morning that the sale of Plarium to Modern Times Group has now been finalised. Plarium, known for its mid-core and casual gaming portfolio, was part of Aristocrat’s broader Pixel United social gaming business, which generated US$1.75 billion in revenue in the year to 30 September 2024. The deal aligns with Aristocrat’s decision to refine its gaming strategy and focus on high-performing assets.

With Plarium now divested, Aristocrat has rebranded its social gaming segment as Product Madness. This new structure will include results from Product Madness’ social slots business and Big Fish Games, another major Aristocrat-owned studio.

However, Big Fish Games will see major operational changes. Aristocrat has halted new game development for Big Fish, instead prioritising the profitable operation of its existing evergreen titles. Investment in the Big Fish portfolio will also be significantly reduced.

Superna Kalle takes charge

In a leadership shake-up, Superna Kalle, currently Aristocrat’s Chief Strategy Officer, will take on executive leadership responsibility for Product Madness. She will continue to oversee Aristocrat’s broader strategic initiatives while leading this new phase of growth in social gaming.

Aristocrat CEO and Managing Director, Trevor Croker, emphasised that the restructuring will strengthen the company’s long-term growth plans.

“With the completion of the strategic review of our casual and mid-core gaming assets, Aristocrat is well placed to accelerate our refreshed growth strategy,” Croker said. “We are deepening management focus and targeting investment behind our core strengths in regulated gaming and gaming-themed content, to unlock new and adjacent opportunities across global markets.”

This shift signals Aristocrat’s commitment to focusing on regulated gaming markets and high-performing gaming-themed content, rather than broad-spectrum social gaming ventures.

Strong financial performance

Aristocrat’s social gaming division has remained highly profitable even after restructuring. Pixel United generated a revenue of US$1.75 billion in the year to 30 September 2024, with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$656 million and profit of US$634 million.