While Balatro is one of the biggest indie hits of 2024, solo developer LocalThunk didn’t expect the game to become such a huge success.
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M&A and Investment
All news and articles about the financial side of the games industry. Private funding, public placements, VC investments, and M&A deals.
The creator of the card "roguelike" Balatro admitted that the game's success exceeded all expectations. According to LocalThunk, it was originally conceived as an experiment, and the working folder is still simply named "CardGame" and is stored among other learning projects.
Redwood, a recently established investment company, has acquired a majority interest valued at $65 million in the Indian game streaming platform Loco.
Today we want to highlight a new successful crowdfunding campaign from indie developers. Super Zoo Story, a pixelated life sim about building your own animal park, has found massive support from the community.
The Marvel heroes trading card game's second birthday was celebrated as it closely approached the $200 million revenue mark
New details about the future of the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown developers have emerged following a report of Ubisoft’s decision to disband the team.
Steam is the main storefront for game distribution on PC. Bohemia Interactive looks back at its debut on the platform 15 years ago, revealing how many copies of its games it has sold since then.
Witchfire appears to be a success for Polish studio The Astronauts, which recently summed up the first results of the game’s Early Access launch on Steam. The team also explained why the devs care about critic and user reviews.
The creators of Among Us announced the acquisition of new funds for their Outersloth fund, which supports indie developers. The project received investments from Casey Yano, co-creator of Slay the Spire, and an "anonymous indie friend"
The BFI National Lottery Innovation Challenge has revealed it will allocate £510,000 to support four groundbreaking projects within the UK games sector
Game outsourcing company Keywords Studios has announced the acquisition of a new studio. Certain Affinity, a team that assisted in the development of Hogwarts Legacy, DOOM, as well as games from the Call of Duty and Halo series, among many others, has come under the company's wing
Keywords Studios has purchased the U.S.-based developer Certain Affinity for an undisclosed amount
Capcom has announced another major milestone for the Resident Evil 4 remake. The game continues to climb the franchise’s best-selling games list.
Live Aware Labs, a technology company headquartered in Seattle, has secured $4.8 million through a seed funding round
Indian publisher Deftouch has obtained an unspecified investment to expand its portfolio, create new games, and recruit additional talent
UMX Studio has obtained a $4.5 million investment in an all-cash deal
Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO has been off to an impressive launch, marking another successful release for Bandai Namco this year. Let’s take a look at its sales figures and compare them to some other titles in the franchise.
Publishers rarely disclose the metrics of their games, which is why we love Hooded Horse’s transparency. Let’s take a closer look at the results the company’s games have achieved over the past 12 months.
KRAFTON has invested in the Spanish studio EF Games
· 15 days agoThe developer of PUBG has announced an investment in the young Spanish studio EF Games. The details of the deal, including the amount and terms, have not been disclosed
Metaphor: ReFantazio has been off to an impressive start, promising to become another success for Atlus this year. Let’s take a close look at its launch and first metrics.
At the Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, a representative from Game Science studio revealed the production budget for Black Myth: Wukong. According to him, more than 300 million yuan ($42.4 million) was spent on creating the game.
Scopely is considering various options to expand its portfolio. The Monopoly Go! developer has plans to make a huge acquisition with the help of its parent company Savvy Games Group.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) from Saudi Arabia sold 17.3 million shares of Nintendo between August 21 and October 1, 2024. This was reported by Bloomberg, citing the fund's report to Japan's Ministry of Finance
Saber Interactive chief creative officer Tim Willits has opened up about the current state of AAA game development. He also detailed the studio’s approach to production and budgeting.
FromSoftware has revealed that beginning in April 2025, its employees will see an average basic salary increase of about 11.8%
Esports Wales has been granted up to £125,000 through the Creative Skills Fund
The company Rostelecom, along with the gaming accelerator Indie GO, plans to establish a fund to support independent developers, reports the newspaper Kommersant. It is called Indie GO Start.
The publisher Merge Games announced its closure
· a month agoThe British publisher Merge Games closed its doors after 15 years of operation. This was announced on its official page on the social network X
Merge Games is shutting down operations merely weeks following a series of layoffs and the closure of its office.
Airship Syndicate has joined the long list of gaming companies that have conducted layoffs, parting ways with 16 employees
Red Hook Studios, the developer of the Darkest Dungeon duology, has become a subsidiary of Behaviour Interactive.
Nitro Games has strengthened its collaboration with Warframe creator Digital Extremes through a $5.5 million (€5 million) agreement in the mobile gaming sector
In the United Kingdom, 1.74 million video games were sold in August, marking a modest decrease of 1.5% compared to the same month last year, according to data from GSD
During the GI Microcast podcast, Piers Harding-Rolls, a specialist from the analytics company Ampere Analysis, shared his assessment of the initial sales of Star Wars Outlaws. According to his estimates, by August 31, the game had sold approximately 800,000 copies.
Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has shared the sales figures for Dragon Age: Inquisition. Here is how they compare to other games made by the Edmonton-based studio.
It is no secret that Microsoft lags behind Sony in terms of console sales. But we now have some fresh data that puts these comparisons in a more perspective.
Various analysts have been sharing their sales forecasts for the PlayStation 5 Pro since its official announcement. Here is some fresh data from Niko Partners.
Saber Interactive has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from two private equity firms. The Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 developer will use this money to pay off debt associated with its buyout.
Last night, there was another piece of news, at least indirectly related to the success of Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2. Its developer, Saber Interactive, announced that it has received "significant equity investments"
As of September 16, 2024, Dong Nguyen, the creator of Flappy Bird, announced on social media that he is not involved in the game's re-release. "No, I have no [relation] with their game," he stated. "I did not sell anything. I also don't support crypto." The Flappy Bird Foundation Group, now owning the trademark, is helmed by designer Michael Roberts. Roberts also leads the mobile development company 1208 Productions, which focuses on cryptocurrency and Web3 technologies
Drama Studios, a French game development company, has secured a $2.5 million seed investment round aimed at enhancing its core development team and progressing its game, Unrecord, to a robust demo stage. The game, known for its hyper-realistic gameplay, released a trailer last year that amassed over 11 million views on IGN and 80 million views on X/Twitter, quickly making it one of the most wishlisted titles on Steam. The widespread attention attracted interest from several major publishers globally. However, Drama Studios chose to collaborate with venture capital firm The Games Fund, citing the firm's industry expertise and shared values and vision for the gaming sector.
Krafton, the company behind PUBG, has made its largest investment outside the gaming sector by contributing KRW 120 billion ($89.3 million) to Spoon Labs, a streaming company. Headquartered in Seoul, Spoon Labs operates the audio platform Spoon and has recently introduced Vigloo, a service centered on short-form videos with a particular emphasis on K-drama.
Mintrocket, known for last year’s hit Dave the Diver, is reportedly going independent from its parent company Nexon. Let’s refrain from making the Best Indie Game of 2023 jokes.
Lost Boys Interactive laid off the majority of its employees
· 2 months agoLayoffs at the subsidiary studios of the Swedish holding company Embracer Group have not ended. New significant reductions have taken place at Lost Boys Interactive
Shares of Ubisoft have dropped once more as a minority investor suggested that the company should transition to a private entity. Last week, the stock of Ubisoft Entertainment SA declined over 10% within a span of two days after Star Wars Outlaws was unveiled. The share price fell to €15.34, marking its lowest point since 2014, and the company's market capitalization then stood at €1.97 billion
Merge Games is shutting down its Chelford office, though it remains unclear how many employees will be laid off as a result. Maximum Entertainment CEO Christina Seelye explained to GamesIndustry.biz that this move is a component of an ongoing consolidation strategy initiated earlier this year. The plan includes integrating the remaining portfolio of Merge Games into Maximum Entertainment
Roblox has unveiled plans to roll out premium games on its platform, allowing developers to earn up to 70% in revenue sharing. This announcement was made by CEO and co-founder David Baszucki during the 10th annual Roblox Developers Conference in San Francisco. Developers will retain between 50% to 70% of earnings from their games when transactions are conducted using real-world currency. Currently, developers receive an estimated 30% share of revenue from purchases made using the platform's in-game currency, as noted by The Verge. The premium games are set to be launched on PC later this year, with intentions to extend this feature to additional devices in the future
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia plans to shift its gaming-related shares to Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary, potentially by 2025, as reported by a representative from Savvy to Nikkei. This strategy is a component of a broader initiative to utilize intellectual property throughout the Middle East, according to the Japanese media outlet. Moving forward, the PIF intends to deepen its engagement in the gaming sector beyond mere investments, pivoting towards "active collaboration," though the specifics of this approach are still uncertain.
The creators of the shooter game about battling aliens who have invaded Earth, Earth Defense Force 6, also boasted about their game's success. They announced that the project's sales have reached 550,000 copies.
Black Myth: Wukong has reached a new impressive milestone two weeks after its launch. Here is some data shared by Game Science’s biggest external investor.
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Last War: Survival is a mobile strategy game set in a zombie apocalypse, developed by the Singaporean company First Fun. The game was released in July 2023. According to the analytics firm Sensor Tower, since its release, Last War: Survival has generated over $900 million