DDM: the amount of investments in gaming companies in the first three quarters reached a record $9.9 billion

Her work is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to investments, the second to M&A transactions.

Key investment datain the third quarter of 2020, 110 investments worth $5.2 billion were made.

• This is more than all investments for the first half of the year combined;the most active investments were made in the categories of “Esports” and “Mobile”;
• Epic Games attracted the largest amount of investments — $1.8 billion.
• The company’s valuation now stands at $17.3 billion.Schedule of investments in gaming companies (from 2010 to the third quarter of 2020)

IPOs were the main driver of gaming investments in the third quarter.

• During this period, four companies entered the stock exchange, and the total amount of money raised amounted to $2.1 billion;The most successful of the IPO companies was Unity, which raised $1.3 billion.
• Corsair, Kakao Games and Archosaur Games/Zulong Entertainment also entered the exchange;The most active investors were Andreessen Horowitz, BITKRAFT Ventures and Play Ventures.
• Each of the funds invested in four companies.Top 10 investments for the third quarter of 2020

Main deals

DDM counted 54 M&A deals in the third quarter.

• Their total amount was $3.5 billion (twice as much as in the last quarter);as in the case of investments, most transactions were made in the categories of “Esports” and “Mobile”;
• the largest deal was the purchase of Peak Games by Zynga for $1.85 billion;
• in second place is Tencent, which bought shares of the streaming platform Huya for $810 million and brought its stake in the company to 51%;
• Embracer Group became the most active company.
• In the third quarter, the Swedish holding absorbed eight studios and raised $648 million to buy new companies.Schedule of completed transactions (from 2010 to the third quarter of 2020)

DDM predicts that next year will also be a record year for the gaming industry.

The biggest role in this will be played by the purchase of ZeniMax for $ 7.5 billion (the deal will be closed in 2021) and the IPO of companies such as Roblox, Skillz and Playtika.

By the way, the last record was set in 2017 – then the annual amount of gaming investments amounted to $ 8 billion.

Also on the topic:

• Scopely has attracted $340 million in investments. This is almost twice as much as plannedThe former president of Rockstar North raised $42 million to develop a “competitor” GTA
• Instant gaming startup Playco raised $100 million at a valuation of $1 billion
• Is there any news?