Global gaming industry sees steady M&A growth, says Drake Star Q3 2024 report
These M&As are thought to have generate $2.5bn, with another $1.1bn raised in private financing
The global gaming industry has seen merger and acquisition activities grow for the fourth successive quarter, with 56 announced M&A deals generating $2.5B in disclosed deal value across the period.
As detailed by the Drake Star Global Gaming Report Q3 2024 - which analyses dealmaking in the games industry over the last three months - public markets are continuing to recover, up 10.2% for the first nine months of 2024.
The $2.5bn figure not include undisclosed deals, such as PUBG publisher Krafton's acquisition of Tango Gameworks and the Hi-Fi Rush IP from Xbox.
The report also reveals there were 56 formally disclosed M&A deals over the period, "continuing the strong uptick", up 70% when compared to the same quarter last year. $1.1bn was raised in private financing via 181 deals.
Andreessen Horowitz and Bitkraft are noted as the most prolific gaming VC over the last 12 months, followed by Play Ventures.
The research also confirmed that Playtika’s acquisition of SuperPlay for $700M at close ($1.95B including earn-out) was the largest deal of the quarter, with notable acquirers including Tencent (Aojue Digital), Warner Bros. Discovery (Player First), Krafton (Tango Gameworks), Capcom (Minimum Studios), Keywords (Wushu Studios), Nazara (Fusebox, Deltias Gaming) and Infinite Reality (LandVault).
Looking ahead, the analysis suggest M&A activity will "further strengthen for the rest of this year and next, continuing its strong growth over the last year, on the back of lowering interest rates and a gradual broader recovery in the public gaming market."