According to the DDM Games Investment Review, the amount of money invested this year is much higher than in 2023.

The games industry is showing signs of recovery after record layoffs, closures, and corporate turmoil. While mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are still slow (even if we exclude the $68.7 billion deal Microsoft paid for Activision Blizzard King), there was no deal larger than $1.3 billion in any quarter of 2023, while the first and second quarters of 2024 both saw deals over $2.2 billion, according to DDM.

According to DDM, the half-year balance is positive, with investments totaling $8.1 billion, while the 2023 figure (for the full year!) is only $4.5 billion. In the second quarter, from April to June, investment in games was excellent. Mergers and acquisitions generated $845 million in 40 transactions, a drastic drop compared to the first quarter (-59% in value and -5% in volume, as 43 transactions generated $2.1 billion in the first three months of 2024). Initial public offerings (IPOs) also suffered, with no companies going public between April and June, and none since the third quarter of 2019!

“When you look at our data set, which covers 16 years of gaming investments, M&A, and IPOs, I can’t help but be excited about the near future. The last year has been a really shaky time for the games industry, and with the resurgence in games investments, it seems that the shakeout is coming to an end. While M&A and IPOs are down slightly quarter-over-quarter, the values are down simply because of the lack of announced deals. The unfavorable conditions have allowed companies to be more strategic by not disclosing the purchase price of a company. As studio financials become more stable, we expect more values to be disclosed, which will help drive the major exits currently in the works, such as EQT Group’s £2.2 billion acquisition of Keywords Studios and Animoca Brands’ potential IPO in 2025,” said Mitchell Reavis, manager of the DDM Games Investment Review.

But until then, there will be a few (thousand) layoffs…

Source: Gamesindustry, DDM