The deal, led by Truist Ventures, the bank's venture-capital arm based in Charlotte, N.C., includes Long Game's team of engineers and designers. Truist plans to run Long Game as a standalone app for the time being in order to convert app users to customers. The deal's terms were not disclosed.
"The business benefit of Long Game is acquiring new households [as well as] deepening relationships with existing households," Truist Chief Information Officer Scott Case explained.
Prior to the Truist acquisition, Long Game had 12 bank and credit-union customers, according to co-founder and CEO Lindsay Holden, with users spending about 13 minutes per session and saving an average of $60 per month. Long Game has attracted "hundreds of thousands" of users since its inception in 2015, according to Ms. Holden.
Ms. Holden will remain in charge of the 12-member Long Game team, which will report to Mr. Case.
The transaction comes as the videogame industry continues to consolidate following the post-pandemic surge, which peaked earlier this year with Microsoft Corp.'s $75 billion all-cash bid for game giant Activision Blizzard Inc. According to PitchBook, gaming mergers and acquisitions spending will nearly triple to $26.2 billion in 2021 from $8.9 billion in 2020.
Companies such as Truist are looking to capitalize on the same interactive qualities that keep eyeballs glued to the screen for more traditional business activities outside of the game industry.
The effort, also known as gamification, incorporates game mechanics into a task or goal, such as saving money in a checking account, to motivate existing users and attract new ones. Gamification is seen as a way for banks and financial-services companies to attract younger users.
According to Mike Foy, head of wealth intelligence at market research firm J.D. Power, gamification is an extension of what younger customers experience in nonfinancial aspects of their lives, such as entertainment and education.
"Obviously, gamification creates a more stickier user experience, and it will bring people back to engage," he said.
According to a 2017 Accenture survey, 65 percent of millennials want gamification to help them learn more about investing.
Truist isn't the only financial firm experimenting with gamification. Ally Financial Inc. has launched interactive digital games to help with marketing and financial education, including integrations with popular games such as Animal Crossing and Minecraft, according to Andrea Brimmer, Ally's chief marketing and public relations officer.
The Long Game team at Truist will initially focus on the game app, but their responsibilities may expand over time to improve user experiences on the banking app, according to Mr. Case.
Long Game players earn in-app coins by completing savings goals and financial literacy quizzes. The coins grant access to games that can result in cash rewards. Because users gain in-app coins by increasing account balances, Truist accounts will support the Long Game app.
According to Ms. Holden, the company's CEO, the pattern of regular interaction through games in Long Game keeps users contributing to their savings goals, helping build deposits for the bank.
"I am very math- and data-minded, and I also care deeply about aesthetics and art, and I realized that designing consumer mobile experiences married these things beautifully," Ms. Holden, who previously co-founded online auction startup Innovative Auctions, said.
Ms. Holden said Long Game had raised $20 million from investors such as Vestigo Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Thrive Capital, and Collaborative Fund.
According to the company, BB&T Corp. completed its $28.2 billion acquisition of SunTrust Banks Inc. in December 2019 to create Truist, the seventh largest commercial bank in the United States. Deposits averaged $415.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022, up 8.4 percent from the same period in 2021.