One in three studios purchased since 2000 has already closed — study
Gaming industry veteran Sebastian Cardoso examined the fate of three hundred studios developing PC and console games that have been acquired by large companies over the last 26 years. A significant portion had a grim fate.
Mass Effect
Cardoso published the research results on the Game Studio Unlocked blog. Below are a few observations.
- Only 67.1% of the studios tracked by Cardoso are still operating — the rest have closed. Half of the closed teams survived no more than five years post-acquisition.
- In one way or another, 60.8% of studios faced negative consequences. They either shut down or experienced layoffs, performance declines, and other issues.
- Among the closed studios, Red Storm Entertainment lasted the longest post-acquisition — Ubisoft purchased it in August 2000 and dissolved it in March 2026.
- Every studio acquired by Activision Blizzard since 2000 is now worse off than at the time of purchase. Some have closed, while others faced declines. Additionally, 83% of teams acquired by Electronic Arts over the last 26 years have seen deteriorating conditions. For Square Enix, this figure is 80%, for Ubisoft — 62%, for Sony — 58%, for Tencent — 50%, and for tinyBuild — 45%.
- Meanwhile, studios acquired by Nintendo, Krafton, and Sumo Group are doing relatively well.
- Cardoso also investigated the situation of studios established within companies during 2000-2026. These performed significantly worse. Out of 56 such teams, 34 have shut down, and 18 of them didn’t manage to release a single game.