Serial entrepreneur Paul Gouge has relieved the bittersweet moment his BAFTA-winning business Playdemic was bought by Warner Bros for the ‘bargain of the century’.
The 48-year-old is the latest guest on The Dealmaker Uncut podcast, hosted by award-winning dealmaker Jonathan Boyers and BusinessCloud’s executive editor Chris Maguire.
Gouge, and his life-long business partner Alex Rigby, are now running free-to-play game studio ForthStar in Altrincham after securing $10m (£8m) in funding from Griffin Gaming Partners.
Their previous business – Playdemic – was acquired by Electronic Arts from Warner Bros in 2021 for $1.4bn, which remains the most expensive buyout of a UK-only developer.
Gouge and Rigby had previously sold Playdemic to Warner Bros at the end of 2016 – just a few weeks before they launched hit game Golf Clash.
Golf Clash went on to be downloaded more than 200 million times and generate more than $1.5bn in revenue – meaning Warner Bros had got the bargain of the century.
Speaking to The Dealmaker Uncut, Gouge admitted: “What was difficult for a while was processing what we’d done.”
At the time Gouge flew to LA to renegotiate their sales and purchase agreement (SPA) and praised Warner Bros for their attitude to incentivise the founders.
Ex-Playdemic duo won’t be rushed into releasing next hit game
“Right now it looks like you (Warner Bros) went to a flea store and accidentally bought a Monet,” was how he recalled the post-sale meeting.
Gouge also praised the role of his wife in keeping him grounded after they’d sold Playdemic to Warner Bros for a fraction of its real value.
“My wife is brilliant,” recalled Gouge. “She said ‘that’s the best thing that ever happened to us. It would have ruined our lives and I don’t want our lives to change’. It was a really important moment.”
In the podcast – which can be listened to here – Gouge revealed he met his business partner Alex Rigby when he was eight and Alex was 10.
“I always wanted to be an entrepreneur,” he said. “I didn’t like being told what to do. I wanted to try and control my own destiny. I had this impatience.”
He said he realised after the sale of his previous business – Rockpool Games – for $15m that he wasn’t motivated by money.
“I enjoyed the journey and freedom so much,” he said.
The Dealmaker Uncut podcast has a five star rating and is available on all good platforms.
Boyers is the head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance and the podcast is produced by Manchester-based What Media.