Although financials are usually not the most exciting of things to read, with the amount of money that’s been moving throughout the gaming industry this past year, Drake Star’s Global Gaming Report for September 2022 makes for genuinely fascinating stuff. This time, as we break down some of the key insights in the report once more, we’ll be looking at the major investors that have cropped up within it.
Most investment appears to have centred around the Blockchain and NFT gaming crazes. With Andreesen Horowitz announcing a $4,500m investment fund for Crypto and Web3-focused projects. Shortly followed by the FTX with a $2,500m fund for DeFi (Decentralised Finance) and gaming specifically. However, even for those not interested in that area, in the traditional gaming market there’s still plenty to unpack.
Mr Top Players
The main beneficients of investment have been Epic Games and FromSoftware, the latter having received $260m from Sony and Tencent. Of course, Tencent has been rapidly expanding their overseas holdings in the face of stifling publishing restrictions at home in China. Whilst Sony, in the face of the proposed Microsoft Activision Blizzard acquisition deal, may be looking to shore up support from developers like FromSoftware for their Playstation consoles. The developer released the hit game Elden Ring earlier this year to rave reviews.
In terms of the mobile gaming industry, one name stands out on the list. Of course in M&A there was the Zynga acquisition by Take-Two Interactive. But one surprising addition to the investor’s list is Dream Games, an Istanbul based company that received $255.0m from Index Ventures, Makers Fund and Balderton Capital. This investment dwarfs an earlier domestic investment into Turkish developer Umuro at $1.75m. The amount Umuro received is not to be sniffed at, of course, but Dream Games has clearly caught the eye of investors in an even bigger way judging by the size of the investment.
We also see some more common names appear such as Softbank, well-known for their diverse investment portfolio and Chinese developer Netease showing up in the funding rounds. Overall it’s so far been a year for major investments that have perhaps overshadowed the more nuanced financials outside of mergers and acquisitions. There are still a lot of conclusions that can be drawn from relatively minor information like this.
