M&A and Investment

Zakazane is a new studio founded in 2022 by games industry veterans aiming to make what they define as “triple i” games. They previously worked on titles like The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and Frostpunk.

The Games Fund led the seed round of financing of the young Polish studio Zakazane, founded by people from CD Projekt and 11 bit Studios. He invested $1 million in developers.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released a new statement on its probe into Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The $68.7 billion deal is now as close to approval as possible.

The new Unity collection is called Runtime Fee. It got its name in honor of the Unity Runtime library set. The company believes that since libraries are installed on users’ devices along with the game, the developer must pay for it. We talked about Unity Runtime with Kirill Shabordin, the founder of Yerevan Cowboys Games, and Alexey Pechenin, the founder of Infinite Art Solutions.

A new document released as part of the FTC v. Microsoft case has shed light on more acquisition prospects discussed at the Redmond-based corporation. None of those deals ultimately materialized, but it is another interesting glimpse into Microsoft’s M&A strategy.

On September 12, the Godot open engine team officially announced the launch of the Godot Development Fund. She will collect donations through him for the development of the engine.

The British studio Jagex may change its owner again. According to Reuters sources, The Carlyle Group investment fund is discussing the sale of the studio with consultants.

Sumo Group Holding has announced the takeover of the British mobile studio Midoki. According to the company, the purchase will help it increase its presence in the market of free-play games and game services.

Sea of Stars has proven to be a huge success for Canadian indie developer Sabotage Studio. The game has sold over 250,000 units in its first week.

Sales of the premium edition of Starfield alone exceeded 2 million copies, according to the analytical service PlayTracker.

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, a bundle that includes updated versions of the first six games in the series, has reached a major milestone. Let’s take a look at how these numbers compare to sales of the original titles.

Supercell has supported the newly opened Future Run studio. It is unknown how much money she gave and on what terms.

Erik Peterson, responsible for business development at Valve, has shared some insights into visibility and discovery mechanisms on Steam. Here is how the company helps devs reach players and connect users to games.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a remaster bundle for the classic platformer series from Insomniac Games, has hit a major milestone by selling 10 million copies globally. Let’s take a look at how these figures compare to the original titles.

Embracer Group, which was once on an endless shopping spree, is now dumping its first-party studios as part of the ongoing business restructuring. This time, the victim was Red Faction and Saints Row developer Volition, not to mention layoffs at Gearbox Publishing.

Discoverability expert Simon Carless has shared some interesting insights into why some games, even quality ones, fail commercially in today’s market. It might be due to the oversaturation of certain genres, but the issue seems to be much more complex.

Marvel Snap has become a hit for the studio Second Dinner and publisher Nuverse. According to the AppMagic analytical service, the mobile version of the game has earned $100.89 million since its release in October 2022.

Marvel Snap has been a huge hit for developer Second Dinner and publisher Nuverse. Let’s dive into the numbers to see the game’s road to $100 million in revenue.

Blackbird Interactive is another game studio that has been recently hit with job cuts. It appears that the Homeworld 3 developer has laid off dozens of people, including some senior staff.

Canada-based indie developer Sabotage Studio has just released Sea of Stars, a turn-based RPG in the style of classic Japanese titles. Let’s take a look at its launch numbers.

The developers of Sea of Stars are very happy with the start of the game. Sabotage Studio reported that on the release day, the turn-based retro RPG sold 100 thousand copies.

Earlier this year, Motorsport Games was accused by dozens of employees at its Russian office of not paying them for months. At least two of them have won their lawsuits against the company.

Imagendary Studios, led by a group of industry veterans, has reportedly been hit with mass layoffs, which affected most of its 54-person staff. The company hasn’t announced a single game in its three years of operation.

The FunPlus division, which was engaged in the development of an unannounced cross-platform third-person action, may be closed.

The UK government has reported that it is ready to satisfy 345 applications from local gaming companies for tax benefits (VGTR) for the period from April 2021 to March 2022. The state will return them £189 million.

Star Citizen still has no approximate release date, but its developer Cloud Imperium Games continues to receive massive support from players and enthusiasts. Here is everything to know about the game’s latest milestone.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon has just been released globally to positive reviews from critics and players. On Steam, the game is now having one of the biggest launches in the history of FromSoftware.

The situation around Dark and Darker has taken an unexpected turn. Although the legal fight between Ironmace Games and publisher Nexon is not yet over, PUBG maker Krafton is now considering creating a mobile game based on this IP.

BioWare has announced a team restructuring, which includes job cuts. Although the studio ensures that this move won’t affect the development of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, some of its most experienced devs have been laid off.

Magic shooter Immortals of Aveum has just been released globally. The initial metrics for the AAA game, developed by Ascendant Studios and published under the EA Originals program, don’t look promising.

Consultant and experienced developer Rami Ismail has shared his thoughts on the state of the games industry, while expressing some fears and concerns. He tried to outline the issues of the existing system where funding decides what gets made.

KB Production Studio, based in Moscow, received financial support from the Internet Development Institute (IRI). According to Kommersant, the organization provided developers with 100 million rubles for mobile games for children based on the animated series Soyuzmultfilm.

Microsoft is now trying to restructure its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard to finally get approval from the UK regulator. That’s why the company has announced a new cloud gaming agreement with Ubisoft.

Made on Earth Games is a mobile game development studio founded in 2022 by Yuri Krasilnikov, former vice president for development of Belka Games, and Alexey Ilyin, creator of the Interactive Cartoon Studio. She conducted a seed round of financing and raised $3.25 million from investors.

Microsoft has signed an agreement with Ubisoft allowing it to distribute Activision Blizzard games through the cloud. As the corporation hopes, it will convince the British regulator to approve the deal with Activision Blizzard.

Market intelligence platform InvestGame has shared a new report on deal activity in the games industry for the first half of 2023. Here are the key findings about the turbulent and generally deteriorating landscape.

The enhanced version of Quake II came out last week, offering updated graphics and even new content. Looking at all the technical and QoL improvements, it is safe to say that other companies would be better off taking a similar approach to rereleases and remasters of their old games.

The Belgian Embassy in China suddenly revealed the sales of Baldur’s Gate 3. According to him, as of August 16, the Belgian company Larian Studios has sold 5.2 million copies of the game on Steam.

SEGA has completed the purchase of the Finnish company Rovio, which created the Angry Birds series of games. The deal cost SEGA €706 million.

Haveli Investments has invested in Candivore, an Israeli mobile studio that developed the Match Masters puzzle. She became a minority shareholder, paying $100 million for a share in the studio.

New details have surfaced about the collapsed $2 billion deal that Embracer Group was supposed to close earlier this year. It appears that its partner was Savvy Games Group, an investing firm established by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

The Play Ventures venture Fund, specializing in investments in gaming services and novice game developers, has conducted a new round of financing. As part of it, the fund received at least $78 million.

At the end of May, Embracer Group announced the sudden disruption of the $2 billion deal. After that, the company’s shares fell in price by half, and it was forced to begin restructuring. According to sources of the Axios publication, the failed partner was Savvy Games Group, a fund from Saudi Arabia.

The team joined Rockstar Games Cfx.re , known for FiveM and RedM, the company’s multiplayer game frameworks. All terms of cooperation are not disclosed.

KRAFTON continues to actively conduct business in India. She announced that over the next two to three years she will spend $150 million to invest in the country’s gaming ecosystem.

Telltale Games has become the owner of the British studio Flavourworks, specializing in games in the interactive cinema format. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.

The antimonopoly regulator of New Zealand announced that it does not object to the sale of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft.

Campfire Cabal has been shut down less than a year after its formation. The studio fell victim to a business restructuring currently underway at its parent company Embracer Group.

Unity has released its financial report for the second quarter ended June 30. The company is showing strong revenue growth, while its net loss continues to decrease.

GEM Capital investment group plans to invest $50 million in game developers over the next two years. The priority is studios from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Cyprus.