The year 2021 was a defining moment for the gaming industry, with new technology, enormous growth, and the first year of next-generation consoles all making headlines. The year was also marked by some of the industry’s wealthiest individuals acquiring some of the top studios, publishers, and intellectual properties for their respective companies. Those purchases have caused seismic transformations in the gaming business, where it’s not out of the question to hear about a new mega-deal in which billions of dollars are paid out to own a big-name company. Massive deals have been made all during 2021, and only in the first month of 2022, making it an exciting moment to be a fan of the gaming industry. If you want a fast rundown of what’s happened in the last year or so, we’ve listed down the important events that have occurred, according to an article written by Aaron Orr in Pocket Gamer.
Source: Pocket Gamer
#10 Electronic Arts Acquired Glu Mobile – April 30, 2021
Photo by GSM Arena
Glu Mobile is a San Francisco-based mobile game developer and publisher. Disney Sorcerer’s Arena, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, and Diner Dash Adventures are among the company’s best-known titles. In 2020, Glu Mobile’s total revenue was $540 million. Electronic Arts announced the purchase of Glu Mobile for $2.4 billion on February 8, 2021, putting the company squarely in the mobile industry. The deal is completed on April 30, 2021. Glu Mobile manages a wide range of licenced games, including those based on reality television shows and Disney properties. The purchase of Glu Mobile was assumed to be part of EA’s continuous growth strategy to expand its reach to more people around the world at the time, with the deal included more than 15 games and 100 million DAUs.
Source: Andriod Central, Pocket Gamer
#9 Microsoft buys Mojang Studios – September 15, 2015
Photo by Spiel Times
Microsoft paid $2.5 billion for Swedish game company Mojang in 2014, years before its current rapid expansion. Minecraft, an indie sensation that has grown into a multiplatform franchise with well over 200 million copies sold across all platforms, is Mojang’s creation. Minecraft: Story Mode and Minecraft Dungeons are two spin-offs that have been produced. Mojang is allegedly looking into other concepts, but for the time being, it is focused on keeping Minecraft updated, ensuring a consistent stream of money for Xbox. Microsoft gained access to users and an income stream across a variety of non-Microsoft platforms by acquiring Mojang.
Source: Windows Central, Pocket Gamer
#8 Asmodee Acquired by Embracer Group – December 16, 2021
Photo by Alt Char
Embracer Group, a Swedish game holding company, bought Asmodee for $3.1 billion in December 2021, making it the company’s largest acquisition to date. With the addition of Asmodee, Embracer’s total number of acquired companies now stands at over 100, with over 500 IPs and brands in the mix. Asmodee will continue to operate independently following the acquisition. Asmodee is a world-leading distributor of digital and tabletop board games, including titles such as Catan, Star Wars: X-Wing, Ticket to Ride, and Jungle Speed. Since its establishment, the company has acquired 22 fully owned subsidiaries and over 300 IPs, as well as selling over 39 million games globally in 2020.
Source: Reuters, Pocket Gamer
#7 Acquisition of Bungie by Sony – January 31, 2022
Photo by The Verge
In 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment agreed to buy Bungie for $3.6 billion, making it the third major investment. They had agreed to work together to provide Sony with robust live-service knowledge as well as an industry-leading game that uses this paradigm. Bungie, unlike other gaming acquisitions, operates as an independent, cross platform company alongside PlayStation Studios, with the flexibility to self-publish its titles. Bungie is a video game studio based in the United States that is best known for the Halo and Destiny series. The company was originally a Microsoft studio before purchasing its freedom, which is somewhat amusing.
Source: The Verge, Pocket Gamer
#6 ByteDance Acquires Moonton – March 22, 2021
Photo by Pocket Gamer
Moonton was launched in 2014 as a Chinese mobile game developer and publisher. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which has two spin-offs, Mobile Legends: Adventure and Mobile Legends: Pocket, is the company’s most well-known game. Moonton was purchased out by ByteDance for $4 billion in March 2021, signifying the latter’s massive investment in games. ByteDance is most recognised for its work on the popular apps TikTok and Douyin, as well as its social media development initiatives. Nuverse’s global offers to the mobile games industry will be expanded as a result of the acquisition.
Source: Reuters, Pocket Gamer
#5 King Purchased By Activision Blizzard – February 23, 2016
Photo by Bocconi Students M&A Circle
In November 2015, Activision Blizzard announced the purchase of publisher King for $5.9 billion, obtaining teams committed to developing and publishing mobile games like Candy Crush. King continued to function as an independent corporation once the deal was completed on February 23, 2016, with no immediate changes to high management. With the Call of Duty brand and Blizzard Entertainment products, Activision Blizzard already had a strong presence in mainstream shooters and hardcore PC gaming, but by purchasing King, Activision Blizzard was able to forge a significant position in the mobile gaming world. Activision was said to have overpaid for King at the time due to declining financials. However, King has subsequently set new revenue records and continues to attract huge player spending every year.
Source: Activision Blizzard, Pocket Gamer
#4 Microsoft Buys ZeniMax Media – September 21, 2020
Photo by Imperium News
The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Dishonored, and Wolfenstein were all created by ZeniMax Media, the world’s largest privately held company. In September 2020, Microsoft purchased $7.5 billion in cash for ZeniMax Media, bringing Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane Studios, id Software, and others to the Xbox first-party portfolio, including day one Xbox Game Pass releases like Starfield. By the time the agreement was finished, the overall value of the deal had risen to $8.1 billion.
Source: Microsoft, Pocket Gamer
#3 Tencent Now Has Majority Stake In Supercell – June 21, 2016
Photo by FT Montage on Financial Times
Supercell, a Helsinki-based mobile game company, was acquired by Tencent on June 21, 2016. Tencent paid $8.6 billion for 81.4% of Supercell’s shares, giving it a strong majority stake in the company behind the popular smartphone game Clash of Clans and its spinoffs. Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Hay Day, and Brawl Stars are the four Supercell games that have each topped $1 billion in lifetime gross sales. While Tencent already had a number of gaming investments, including majority holdings in Epic Games, Sumo Digital, and Ubisoft, acquiring a majority stake in Supercell consolidated Tencent’s position in mobile gaming while also providing a constant source of new gaming revenue.
Source: Reuters, Pocket Gamer
#2 Take-Two Interactive In Talks To Buy Zynga – January 11, 2022
Photo by Trung T. Phan on The Hustle
In the field of mobile games, this social gaming company from the United States is the market leader. Zynga’s most popular mobile games are FarmVille, Zynga Poker, and Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells. Grand Theft Auto publisher, Take-Two Interactive, revealed its intention to buy mobile producer Zynga for $12.7 billion in January 2022. Zynga will lead Take-mobile Two’s operations as part of the deal, with the latter anticipating that Zynga’s skills will help it gain a foothold in the mobile industry. Take-Two will gain a significant amount of mobile game production power from Zynga, which will complement the 2K Games and Rockstar Games brands. The acquisition is expected to finalise in June 2022.
Source: CNBC, Pocket Gamer
#1 Microsoft Purchasing Activision Blizzard – January 18, 2022
Photo by Dado Ruvic on World Economic Forum
Microsoft revealed its intention to buy Activision Blizzard, the publisher of Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Diablo, World of Warcraft, Spyro, and other games, on January 18, 2022. This massive deal, valued at $68.7 billion, is the largest in the video game industry’s history. Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Raven Software, Blizzard Entertainment, King, and Toys for Bob are among the developers added to the Xbox first-party lineup as a result of the acquisition. The internet titan paid a 69 percent premium to the previous day’s closing price per share. In a similar move to Take Two’s acquisition of Zynga, Microsoft hopes to broaden its reach into “mobile-first” communities with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, an area where it has previously failed to succeed. The acquisition is presently scheduled to close in June 2023.
Source: Microsoft, Pocket Gamer
Conclusion
Companies are continually being purchased, and we shouldn’t be shocked if this list changes over time. The video game industry is one of the world’s fastest-growing entertainment sectors, and this trend will continue. As online games and streaming become more popular, we may be able to have an entirely new and engaging gaming experience. We may see more mergers and consolidations in the future as big internet giants continue to delve into gaming to diversify their revenue streams.
