Drake Star has released its Global Gaming Industry Report for the first nine months of 2022, and to say that it’s been a good year for the industry would be an understatement. Despite the normalisation of the market following the easing of pandemic restrictions, 2022 has seen hundreds of deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
But how does the most recent quarter, Q3 2022, compare to the year as a whole?
81 deals were finalised during Q3. This is an uptick from the 70 deals announced during Q2, bringing the total number of mergers and acquisitions for 2022 to 243.
Q1 saw companies taking advantage of the covid boom to consolidate and make investments, while the summer saw this slow down significantly. That said, this summer slump could reflect, quite simply, a market adjustment. Q3’s increase may be significant in its own sense, but doesn’t bring the total close to the number of deals arranged during Q1.
The biggest deal of Q3 was the merger between Unity and ironSource, valued at $4.4 billion. The merger caused a stir throughout the industry, leading to a veritable battle of the brands as ironSource competitor AppLovin attempted to maintain its own competitiveness with a proposed acquisition of Unity.
Embracer Group emerged as the top dealmaker of Q3, with eight acquisitions including MiddleEarth Group and Tripwire. The Dutch company recently made waves with the acquisition of gaming giant Square Enix’s Western assets: Onoma (formerly Square Enix Montreal), Eidos Montreal, and Crystal Dynamics.
Deals were drawn this quarter
Sony also made a significant step into mobile gaming with the acquisition of Savage Games, with the potential of creating mobile titles based on existing IPs.
Q3 saw a number of major investments, with 216 private financings. This is a significant jump from the 169 financings in Q2, but far below the 300 financings in Q1.
FromSoftware also received a significant investment of $260 million from Sony and Tencent, which the company will use to expand its global presence and become a larger publisher, as well as to improve development capabilities.
Animoca Brands also saw a significant investment of $185.3 million at a $6 billion valuation, including participation from True Global Ventures, Temasek Holdings, and Boyu Capital. This investment will, in part, fund strategic acquisitions and advance the company’s metaverse goals.
The biggest investment outside of private financings came, again, from Tencent, who acquired a 49.9 percent stake in Ubisoft parent company Guillemot Bros for $297 million.
Several companies listed in this article were among our top 50 mobile game makers of 2022.
