During the height of the pandemic, as this demographic was largely working remotely, gaming activity and sales rose to grand new heights. As MarketWatch notes, the pandemic was largely responsible for the $180 billion in video game industry sales in 2020. But as we move beyond COVID-19, video game sales, play time and user growth has not slowed.

The deal, which took it public, raised $261 million in proceeds for investors and the company, with an initial public valuation of $950 million. Devolver will retain $50 million, while $211 million goes to early-round individual shareholders, the management team, and large early-round corporate investors like NetEase.

Simply put, DDM says the game sector is on a “tremendous investment pace.” Video gaming, the industry and investor returns are… on fire! Q3 saw over 150 investment deals worth over $9 billion. Investments in the industry, year-to-date, are more than 2.5X higher than at the same point in 2020. And there is little, if any, signs of it slowing down.

The company shared the news during the Samsung Developer Conference. At this time, they have not provided further details on what games would be available, what other platforms it would be available on, and when it will launch.

The company has acquired a 6.86% stake in Kadokawa, the parent company of From Software, a video game developer. Kadokawa is a giant media conglomerate with a $400 billion+ market capitalization. The deal was announced on Friday, October 29th. Tencent will buy 4.86 million shares and is expected to close later this month.

According to the NPD Group, consumer spending on gaming hardware, games and accessories reached a Sept. record of $4.4 billion, representing a 3% increase over 2020. September is normally a slower month for gaming related sales as most US schools reopen after the summer.

Frenzy owns and operates the necessary equipment which allows it to create reality shows across the globe. These reality shows include the production and broadcast of eSports and gaming events. eSports is a sector of entertainment within gaming that is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 24%.

It was announced that Scopely, a Culver City CA-based private gaming and entertainment company, signed the agreement with Sony on the 18th of October. GSN Games was the video game division of Game Show Network, owned by Sony.

Project Liberty was a 2020 plan by Epic Games to add alternative payment methods to Android & iOS versions of Fortnite. Epic stated that big platform-holders, such as Apple & Google, were operating monopolies & should allow developers and gaming companies choice in whom processes in-app transactions.

The report highlights the global video game market, which is expected to reach $317.17 billion in 2028, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9% through the study period. Key factors in industry growth include an increase in per-capita income, an increase in smart-phone usage, a rising interest and curiosity in video games, and an increase in video game console usage.