Glu invests $7.5m in QuizUp dev Plain Vanilla

Glu Mobile has invested $7.5m in Plain Vanilla, the developer behind popular social trivia game QuizUp.

Despite QuizUp’s early success, still the fastest growing App Store game to date, and its audience of more than 40m players, Plain Vanilla has had difficulty monetising the title, according to Pocket Gamer.

The studio, which has offices in both Iceland and the US, managed to raise $27m in investment shortly after launch but has failed to prevent its number of active players plummeting. 

Glu’s investment could help improve the company’s fortunes, but it has also opened up an interesting new possibility: the mobile giant now has a 15-month option to acquire Plain Vanilla at a pre-agreed price.

Glu has also announced it will be working with Plain Vanilla on a TV programme based on QuizUp, attempting to increase audience engagement by combining the two.

“Having focused thus far on building a large and engaged userbase, QuizUp will now benefit from Glu’s involvement to begin driving effective sustainable monetisation,” said Glu CEO Niccolo de Masi.

“If our partnership proves out and QuizUp revenues scale, Glu will evaluate whether to exercise its call option to acquire the business.”