The final numbers are in
2021 was a record investment year for the video game industry, with roughly $85 billion in deals. The figure, three times greater than 2020 could be dwarfed this year, as over $80 billion in M&A have already occurred by late January.
In 2021, there were 1,159 deals that were either announced or closed. Of them, 299 were M&A, 142 were private market deals and 718 were private placements.
While deals in the PC/Console sector outnumbered deals in mobile, mobile had a higher deal value at $15.5 billion compared to $13.9 billion for the former. Hardware deals totaled $4.2 billion.
Last year was also a banner year for private investment, SPACs and IPOs, with Krafton, Developer Digital and Roblox receiving initial listings, to name a few.
Some of the largest deals in the pc/console sector included Embracer Groups acquisition of Gearbox for $1.38 billion, Sumo’s acquisition by Tencent for $1.27 billion and the acquisition by Carlyle Group of Jagex for $530 million.
Not to be outdone, the mobile sector had some massive deals as well. ByteDance acquired Moonton for $4 billion, Electronic Arts acquired both Glu Mobile and Playdemic for $2.1 billion and $1.4 billion respectively… and SpinX Games was acquired by Netmarble for $2.19 billion.
2022 is already off to a hot start with Microsoft announcing the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion and Take-Two Interactive’s purchase of Zynga for $12.7 billion.
Should M&A activity keep pace with the record-breaking year of 2021 (it’s already well ahead), there could be over $250 billion worth of deals this year.
Learn more about 2021’s record breaking year for investment in the video game industry, HERE
Or discover more potential M&A deals, HERE
Source: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-01-13-m-and-a-activity-reached-usd85bn-value-in-2021