Despite stocks meandering and swaying in a months’ long bear market, while political and economic uncertainty continues to grip the nation, deals in the video game industry remain a bright spot for some timely investors.
In fact, outside of the oil and gas industry, there may be no better place right now for investors to seek solid gains than in video games… especially investors who hold positions in companies on the receiving end of a buyout or are early investors in companies who are considering going public.
Why? Premiums are being paid, and the market is eating up newly trading stock.
As you know, earlier this year as the bear market began to take grip, Microsoft announced its acquisition plans for Activision-Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. This, should the deal close as expected, will represent a 45% premium to ATVI’s stock price the day before the announcement was made.
More recently, and deeper into the bear market, a SPAC deal, FaZe Holdings, was valued at $725 million before it began trading in late July. However, according to NASDAQ.com, the company now enjoys a market capitalization of over $1.6 billion.
To say the industry remains hot, even in this struggling equities market, would be an understatement.
Yet, during this record year for deals, well over $100 billion have already occurred, a potential $50 billion more may still be sitting on the table, ready to be signed, sealed, and delivered.
It’s estimated by Drake Star Partners that before 2022 is out, the industry could experience a monster $150 billion in total deal volume. That would be a 76% increase over the previous record year of 2021…
And a continued opportunity for video game industry investors.
Now, two new acquisition deals announced this week are only adding more fuel to the dealmaking fire… and inching the deal value ever closer to Drake Star’s $150 billion prediction.
Sony announced it is acquiring mobile game developer Savage Game Studios, and Nazara Technologies has acquired Wildworks Inc.
While no terms have been disclosed in the Sony/Savage deal, Nazara has taken a 100% interest in Wildworks for $10.4 million.
Head of PlayStation Studios, Hermen Hulst said “PlayStation Studios must continue to expand and diversify our offering beyond console, bringing incredible new games to more people than ever before. Acquiring the talented team at Savage Game Studios is another strategic step towards that goal.”
The Sony acquisition announcement of Savage comes just a few weeks after the company closed its $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie. Sony’s largest gaming acquisition to date.
Following the initial Bungie announcement, Sony’s President of Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan said, “We’ve been extremely active in the area of M&A and investment. The purpose of these investments is to increase our core strength at PlayStation Studios, but also to acquire expertise in areas of game development where historically we have not had a significant presence.”
While Savage may not be nearly as large as Bungie, it shows Sony is still deal hunting and continues to grow by acquisition in hopes of fending off Microsoft as the world’s biggest video game company.
Of course, when a multitude of video game giants like Sony, Microsoft, Tencent and others find themselves in this “growth by acquisition” competition, it’s fantastic news for investors in the acquired companies.
Like we said earlier, there may be no better area of the market, outside of oil and gas, for investors to seek gains…
As the video game industry remains… red hot!