Drake Star has published its latest edition of its Global Gaming Industry Report, which provides insight into deals in the gaming industry during Q1 2022.
The total disclosed deal value so far this year has been $98.7 billion, which already surpasses the value for 2021 in its entirety, where deals reached $85.4 billion across 1,159 deals, with $15.5 billion from mobile.
In large part, the current 2022 figure comes from announcements of Microsoft’s $68.9 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard and Take-Two’s $11.8 billion acquisition of Zynga. Post-acquisition, Drake Star’s report notes that Microsoft will become the third-largest gaming company, with the acquisition being the biggest to date in the industry.
First-quarter deals
Of the deals made in the first quarter of the year, more were made in the mobile space than in any other gaming segment. Mobile also came in second for deal value at $12.7 billion. In terms of the number of deals announced by one company, Tencent placed on top with five in the first quarter of 2022.
Private blockchain and NFT gaming companies have also raised $1.2 billion in the first quarter with the most active investors being Animoca Brands, Alameda Research / FTX, and Shima Capital. Animoca Brands also had the largest funding round in the category, raising $359 million so far this year.
It's not only games companies that are acquiring game studios however. Netflix has upped it's activity in the games industry and has recently acquired Next Games for $72 million, followed by Boss Fight Entertainment a few weeks later as the company doubles down on its gaming activities.
