Casual game developer Playstudios obtained exclusive rights to develop and publish mobile games dedicated to the iconic Tetris franchise, advancing a vision to expand its portfolio beyond social casino offerings.

Playstudios stated it secured the rights to operate the current Tetris mobile title and create new variants through a partnership with The Tetris Company and gaming publishing company N3twork.

The licence enables Playstudios to create Tetris titles in all markets except China.

It plans to launch an updated version of the current game, drawing “inspiration from leading casual game formats and embody new features and mechanics that will usher in a new era for Tetris on mobile”.

Playstudios EVP Jason Hahn highlighted the move was part of a strategy to set foot into the popular puzzle game genre, positioning it to “accelerate our growth, diversify our portfolio, grow our network of players”, and scale its marketing and analytics platform.

The current version of the game has been downloaded approximately 30 million times since its launch in January 2020.

Before N3twork, developer rights for Tetris were held by Electronic Arts.