The casual gaming titan has changed hands, and the fallout includes cancelled sequels, developer layoffs, and reportedly a 100% price hike on Steam.
If you’ve been wondering why your favorite Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) devs have gone radio silent – or why that casual game in your Steam wishlist just doubled in price – we finally have the answer: Big Fish Games has officially been sold.
The buyer is a newly formed entity called BFG Entertainment, headed by former iWin CEO Lasse Jensen. But while the name sounds similar, the strategy is aggressively different.
We are looking at a complete restructuring of the casual gaming landscape that includes splitting up massive IPs, hiking prices, and axing long-time partner studios.
The Three-Way Split
According to a confirmation from former owner Aristocrat Leisure, the Big Fish assets were divested in October 2025 in “three separate transactions,” according to a news article on Pocket Gamer. Here’s how it works:
The Core: BFG Entertainment (the new guys) acquired the BigFishGames.com platform, the PC/Mac premium business (the catalog and IP), and “a handful” of mobile games.
The Mobile Cash Cows: The heavy hitters have been apparently sold off to other operators (as they show different publishers on mobile). EverMerge is now under Indian firm JetSynthesys, and Gummy Drop has moved to 7 Hit Games, for example.
The Rest: Aristocrat is keeping the social casino stuff (like Big Fish Casino) because, naturally, the house always wins and they seem to want to focus on that alone.
HOPA Steam Prices Just Doubled
After the acquisition, it appears that many (if not most) of the HOPA games listed on Steam by Big Fish Games have now doubled in price, from between $10-$13 to $20 (as far as Collector’s editions go).
You can see that for yourself by checking the newly established company’s (BFG Entertainment) Steam page.
Of course, the prices match the ones we see on the BigFishGames.com website also, probably trying to even the play field and get more people back to buying from BFG instead.
The sales probably started to decline several years ago, when Big Fish Games decided to pause their affiliate program which helped push sales to their platform from various gaming websites (like RGameReview).
Either way, this is a bitter pill to swallow for a community used to budget-friendly puzzling. To make matters worse, reports indicate the free trials on the main site – formerly a generous 60 to 90 minutes – have been slashed to a measly 25 minutes.
The Developer Graveyard: Cancelled Sequels and Layoffs
The new ownership also seems to do a complete revamp on the development side too, and this is where things seem to get even messier.
For starters, it appears that GrandMA Studios is canned as various artists are posting on their ArtStation portfolios samples from “cancelled projects” which include the popular Whispered Secrets series, as well as Mystery Case Files.
This is surprising to say the least, as these two series are some of the most appreciated by fans of the hidden object adventure genre.
Elephant Games is bleeding, also.
The studio behind Grim Tales and Mystery Trackers seems to be in a precarious spot as well.
BFG Entertainment has stripped them of Midnight Castle, the F2P hidden object game they’ve run since 2014, effective January 4.
While Grim Tales 27 is still flagging a January release, Elephant Games has publicly admitted they have “no information” about future episodes for their PC franchises in 2026.
Even more so, they direct their fans to Icebound Secrets and Icebound Secrets 2, two games that are listed as developed by Crootoo Software. So it seems there are some cracks here, although apparently not as bad as with GranMa Studios, who worked exclusively with Big Fish Games.
This uncertainty tracks with a wave of LinkedIn activity showing developers, artists, and project managers leaving Elephant Games and other companies in the HOPA industry as recently as December 2025.
Friendly Fox is… confusing. Friendly Fox (Bridge to Another World) was rumored to be on the chopping block, but they seem to have survived the initial purge.
Bridge to Another World 13 is still slated to drop today, January 29, for Game Club members. Whether their contract was renegotiated or simply allowed to finish remains, but they are the only ones posting a “business as usual” front.
The new leadership is actively recruiting for a new internal studio (see their LinkedIn post), specifically hunting for Unity developers and artists with HOPA experience. This marks the first time Big Fish would be directly developing hidden object games internally since Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake back in 2013.
The Verdict
The HOPA genre is niche, but its fans are loyal. BFG Entertainment is betting that those fans will pay double the price on Steam and stick around despite the cancellation of high-profile sequels like a Madame Fate follow-up.
CEO Lasse Jensen stated they thought the assets were “under-utilised.” We will see if “utilising” them means revitalizing the genre, or just squeezing every last cent out of a dedicated fanbase before the credits roll. I am sure that you, just like me, hope it’s the former, not the latter.
I agree! The industry as a whole has been declining rapidly, but the interest from players is still there. We just need something that matches today’s needs and doesn’t feel as “cash grab” only. I am sure the genre can be revitalized in such a way that both older players like myself and newer ones can be satisfied.
I cancelled my BFG subscription about 1 1/2 years ago, as I felt the ‘hidden object’ games to be going down hill from about mid-’16 to 2017. They became a ‘cookie cutter’ lover’s dream (smh).
Further, why would I want to pay $19.99 for games that cost the same in 2006/2007 (the year I joined BF Games)?
If this new company plans to put its’ money where its’ mouth is by putting out new-era, well-storied written, and engaging hidden Object’ games (maybe using old-days era game graphics, even if just for nostalgia purposes), I would consider coming back.
Otherwise, until I see what the new company has to [potentially] offer, I’ll continue to move on just as Big Fish Games – and time – has moved on.