M&a
ByteDance sells Red Alert Online dev C4 Games for $35.8 million
Film and entertainment firm says Red Alert can generate "considerable revenue" in the future
Net Casting
Aristocrat Leisure eyes potential sale of Plarium and Big Fish Games
Casino firm is undertaking a strategic review of its non-social casino games as Product Madness stays off the chopping block
Merging And Moving
Q1 2024 saw $2.4 billion in games industry investments, while M&As are up for the first time since 2022
Disney’s investment in Epic Games is responsible for $1.5 billion of that $2.4 billion total
Industry Insights
“We believe the industry is on track for growth this year and is projected to reach $190 billion by the end of 2024”
Konvoy VC’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Josh Chapman shares his thoughts on industry layoffs, the state of gaming and what can be expected from venture capital funding this year
The Big Interview
Why Sensor Tower acquired data.ai
Sensor Tower chief operating officer discusses motivations for the deal and what it means for mobile market intelligence
Something To Sell
Embracer to sell Borderlands dev Gearbox to Take-Two in $460m deal
Gearbox games from Borderlands and Homeworld to Duke Nukem will fall under Take-Two’s possession
Week That Was
Week in Views - The return of M&A, killing your darlings and Monopoly WHOA!
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Deconstructing The Future
Deconstructor of Fun's 2024 predictions: AI transforms the games industry, DMA will make Apple bleed, and UA recovers
Eric Kress and Michail Katkoff share their views on where the games industry is headed in 2024
Into The Numbers
Gaming M&As down 43% year-on-year while deal value falls 69%
Q1 2022 saw the most spending on M&A in the past five years
More Acquisitions
Monumental acquires Coin Dozer publisher Game Circus
“We're happy and excited to partner with Monty and his very talented team at Monumental," said Games Circus CEO Donnie Thompson
Supercharged
How Supercell is transforming for its next chapter
Supercell is modernising its culture. Will it lead to bloat or will the famous Finnish developer truly expand?
Financials
Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal drives record $86 billion in games industry deals in 2023
“We predict M&A activity to steadily increase again in 2024”
Heads Up
Thunderful explores sale of Bridge Constructor publisher Headup Games nearly three years after €11m acquisition
Company plots "more focused strategy" for the business
Gaming Market
The gaming industry saw $1.2 billion in investments and M&A in 2023’s first quarter
It's not great news for mergers and acquisitions as investments hit their lowest point since 2018
Deals, Deals, Deals!!!
Deals Digest: The Biggest Deals of 2023 so far
Every big deal from every major player all in one place. Here's the hit list of where the big money is moving
Breakdown
Drake Star's Global Gaming Report: Breaking down the numbers, charts and more
What do Drake Star’s charts and graphs tell us about the gaming industry today?
Investment
Drake Star's Gaming Index rises by 15% private financing worth $700m in Q2 2023
The firm points to major deals like the Activision Blizzard and Scopely acquisitions while noting a lower level of investment
Stocks
EA and other video game stocks see big boost as M&A fever creeps in
Shares are trading ‘in sympathy’ with Microsoft and ABK as the AquiBlizz saga looks set to close
Investment
Tencent takes the lead on European investment. Will the rest of China follow?
The company wants to hedge its bets abroad. Could more Chinese-funded M&A action be on the way?
Venture Capital
The top VC firm for Q1, Bitkraft Ventures, expands to Asia
The firm was the top investor in Drake Star's recent report
Report
M&A is coming back swinging in 2023, Drake Star report concludes
New report offers key insights into changes in the VC climate for Q1
New Appointment
Guillermo Arias joins Digital Development Management’s investment services division
Arias brings almost three decades of experience to the role
Monumental Deal
Miniclip to acquire Subway Surfers studio Sybo
Mobile acquisition is “the biggest deal in European mobile games this year”
Cfo To Consultant
Thunderful CFO Anders Maiqvist steps down
Will continue to consult the firm on games M&A
Full House
Scopely acquires social casino outfit GSN Games for $1 billion
Combined company is now worth over $5 billion
Still Growing
MTG appoints Daniel Frechen as new Head of M&A and Strategy
Looking to continue its build-and-grow activity
Deal Or Deal?
Game M&A and funding volume hits $71 billion in 2021 to-date
Volume is already more than double 2020
New Way To Pay
Voodoo buys Beach Bum to diversify monetisation from ads to IAPs
Israeli startup did $70 million in past 12 months
Open Doors
CrazyLabs acquires Firescore Interactive to boost Indian hypercasual ecosystem
The companies launched a new hub together in July
Great Guns
Tilting Point raises $235 million to accelerate studio acquisition strategy
General Atlantic leads first equity raise
Sky High
$60 billion worth of deals in the games industry have already taken place in 2021
Drake Star Partners adds up the activity
Triple Word Score
MTG acquires Indian word game studio PlaySimple for $360 million
There's also a $150 million earn-out
Gear Up
Looking for your mobile games studio to be acquired? Here's what recent M&A data is telling founders
Pollen VC's Martin Macmillan highlights the trend
Expansion
Nazara buys a majority stake in MENA publisher Publishme
Spends $3 million for a 70% stake
527 Individual Deals
Game deals in 2021 have reached $49 billion in value so far
Drake Star Partners digs into the data
Data Is Power
Skillz acquires Aarki for $150 million
First move since joining the New York Stock Exchange
Mini Tencent
Miniclip continues its own mini-rollup, acquiring Supersonic Software
Long time indie sells out
No Slowing Down
Embracer is looking to spend $2 billion on another 20 deals
Raised another $890 million in March
Alpha To Omega
How Vungle’s M&A activity aligns with its wider platform vision
TreSensa deal is part of the process
Vertical Integration
Vungle's third big acquisition is cloud-based ad creative outfit TreSensa
Building out a complete platform
More Cash
Game Taco snaps up GSN Games' Worldwinner
Skill-based gaming consolidates
Another Add
Krafton snaps up mobile games studio Dreamotion
Building out the plan
Not For Sale
Why Life is Strange dev Dontod rejected several M&A proposals
But did sell a minority stake to Tencent
Small Gains
Why Zynga’s Chartboost acquisition is more strategic than reactive
COO Matt Bromberg explains
Big Deal
Zynga acquires adtech outfit Chartboost for $250 million in cash
Vertical consolidation happening
Standing Tall
Zynga-owned Rollic acquires High Heels dev Uncosoft
Hypercasual M&A
Big Bang
Game M&A hit all-time high of $39 billion in Q1 2021
280 deals made during the quarter
Sell Out
Xsolla announces Xsolla Exit Strategies services
New service for developers
All Seeing
Xsolla acquires data viz outfit Slemma
Better viz, better business
Welcome To The Family
Keywords snaps up Climax Studios for up to $60 million
The latest in a line of acquisitions