It was announced this morning that the UK retailer GAME has acquired the gaming events company Multiplay in a deal worth about £20 million.

GAME is a well-known gaming retailer in the UK, with a store in most major cities and many towns as well. They are known for holding competitions to win games, gaming related mechandise as well as being a collection point for special free exclusive content such as prize Pokemon; they also are usually the focal point for midnight releases of big name games. Multiplay is an events company that also provides servers for online multiplayer gaming, with their most popular event being a gaming festival called Insomnia that takes place 3 times a year and will have its 54th event this April.

The deal will see GAME paying £12.6m of the £20m up front, with the reminder of the price being made up by cash and shares over the next three years. The CEO of Multiplay, Craig Fletcher, will remain in charge of Multiplay reporting in to GAME CEO Martyn Gibbs; so far no jobs are reported to be under threat due to the deal.

“With our combined passion and expertise, we are looking forward to delivering more, bigger and better experiences for our communities and are excited for what the future holds.” said Gibbs about the deal.

GAME itself had troubles a few years back when the company went into administration, with a number of stores closing down as a result. Happily they managed to survive and this deal only proves that they’ve managed to recover from the problems of the past.