Lego Digital Play Acquires ForthStar Games to Boost Its Mobile Push

Lego Digital Play has acquired Manchester-based mobile studio ForthStar Games for an undisclosed sum. The studio was founded by Playdemic co-founders Paul Gouge and Alex Rigby, and it will stay in Manchester after the deal. Gouge becomes head of games at Lego Digital Play, while Rigby continues to lead ForthStar.

A studio with a track record

Gouge and Rigby have built mobile studios before. They previously co-founded BattleMail, Rockpool Games and Playdemic. Electronic Arts bought Playdemic for $1.4 billion in 2021, which made it one of the largest UK game acquisitions at the time.

ForthStar started with 14 Playdemic alumni and has since grown to 30 employees. The studio raised $10 million in funding from Griffin Game Partners.

Why mobile

Lego Digital Play president Aaron Leob said mobile is where the company wants to start. "When we look at the mobile market, it is the most democratic market where all the world's gamers are, and it's where we can reach kids of all ages in every country on the globe," he said.

He added: "Our commitment is bringing play to everyone around the world. This is probably the best place we can start what we're doing with Lego Digital Play, and ForthStar is a fantastic group for us to bring in to do that."

Gouge said ForthStar was set up to keep pushing for excellence, and that the team's accumulated experience "really came to fruition in ForthStar." On the deal itself, he said: "When this opportunity arose, we leapt at it because it gives us an opportunity to work with Aaron and this group, and me more widely with the studios group, and try to really bring Lego to the prominence that it truly deserves on mobile."

Lego's separate digital arm

Lego Digital Play was founded in 2025 as a company separate from the Lego Group. Leob described its purpose as creating "new, unique, and authentic Lego experiences and in the digital world that are wholly owned by us."

ForthStar is not its first studio purchase. Lego Digital Play also acquired UK mobile developer Offroad Games, which was founded by a team of former Space Ape Games employees.

Neither company has named a first project or a release window for ForthStar's work under the Lego banner.