M&A and Investment

The upcoming discontinuation of discs by Sony has become one of the most talked-about events in the industry in recent months. We decided to examine the situation from the perspective of market data and find out how the share of digital sales has changed for major publishers and what the current state of game retail is today.

Ubisoft's Chief Financial Officer Frédérick Duguet indicated that the company anticipates strong financial returns from Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, attributing this expectation to reduced production costs.

KRAFTON has announced a new deal. The company has invested in Neon, a platform that focuses on infrastructure for direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales in mobile games.

The European Commission has approved the $55 billion deal for the acquisition of Electronic Arts, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund

The largest pension funds in Australia are actively investing in gambling, according to a study by SustainoMetric. Analysts noted that 20 funds own gambling stocks amounting to at least 14.8 billion Australian dollars or 10.33 billion US dollars.

Following its closure by Microsoft in 2024, Alpha Dog Games, the studio behind Mighty Doom, has resurfaced as an independent entity.

The company Playtika is negotiating the sale of the studio behind Disney Solitaire, Dice Dreams, and Domino Dreams, claims Calcalist Tech. The potential buyer is Tencent.

It was launched by the Uzbekistan Creative Association (UzCA)

Scopely has made structural changes within the team responsible for developing Stumble Guys — a party game similar to Fall Guys. This was reported in a statement to the Game Developer portal.

The CIRSA group of companies acquired a controlling stake in the Paraguayan operator Slots del Sol. This allowed it to enter the Paraguayan gambling market, securing a presence in both the land-based casino segment and the iGaming segment

The gaming platform Roblox continues to be at the center of legal disputes

1047 Games studio has been hit by another wave of layoffs — just a few weeks after the release of the team-based shooter Empulse in early access. The exact number of employees affected by the cuts is still unknown

Analysts at Aream & Co. prepared a report on gaming deals in the second quarter of 2026. According to their observations, the investment market significantly revived during this period.

In the first half of 2026, Steam generated $11.1 billion, according to data from the analytics company Alinea Analytics. Its semi-annual revenue has never been this high before

While the head of Sony is selling his shares, the head of tinyBuild is buying more. Alex Nichiporchik, the CEO of tinyBuild, announced the purchase of an additional 430,000 shares of tinyBuild for 46,950 pounds sterling ($62,800)

Employees of Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) are planning a demonstration outside the company's Edinburgh headquarters this weekend. The protest is in reaction to a fan event that was advertised as "all-expenses-paid."

Xbox has revealed significant layoffs as part of a broader restructuring initiative it had previously disclosed. A total of 3,200 employees, accounting for 20% of the Xbox workforce, are set to lose their jobs. Of those, 1,600 positions are being cut today, as detailed in an internal email from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma that was also shared on X

The United Videogame Workers union (UVW-CWA) has established a hardship fund to support industry employees in the United States and Canada who have been impacted by layoffs

Google Corporation has decided to support African indie studios that want to release games on Google Play. To this end, it has launched a special fund called the Indie Games Fund Africa.

Scopely, the company behind the mobile hit MONOPOLY GO!, has made new investments. It has backed a Japanese studio called Studio AuKnow

Kepler Interactive, the company that released Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Sifu, and a host of other games, has expanded its portfolio. It has acquired a stake in another publisher — Oro Interactive

Union members at Rockstar have voiced concerns about possible gender pay disparities, overtime conditions outlined in contracts, and how bonuses are managed

The winners of the national content competition, organized by the Internet Development Institute (IRI), have been announced. This year, the list includes 152 projects, nine of which are games.

Xbox has withdrawn from an agreement to finance and distribute IO Interactive's online fantasy role-playing game, known by the codename Project Fantasy. This decision could potentially result in job cuts.

TinyBuild, the publisher of Hello Neighbor, Potion Craft, The King is Watching, and many other games, has gained a new shareholder. That shareholder is the venture capital firm Griffin Gaming Partners.

Griffin Gaming Partners, a venture capital firm, has acquired a 3.24% equity stake in the developer and publisher TinyBuild.

TinyBuild, the publisher of Hello Neighbor, Potion Craft, The King is Watching, and many other games, now has a new shareholder. That would be the venture firm Griffin Gaming Partners.

Japanese developer lemorion_1224, the creator of the "friendslop" hit Meccha Chameleon, quickly shared fresh information about the game's sales as well

Venture capital entity Vgames is introducing a new $10 million Indie Fund

It has been announced that another gaming fund has been established. It was created by the investment company Denmu.

Vyking Ventures announced a strategic investment in PlayAIO, a company specializing in data and artificial intelligence solutions for the iGaming industry

Nexon has decided to support independent developers from South Korea. To do this, it took an unusual step by joining forces with the country's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and launching a multi-million dollar fund.

The Chinese giant Tencent is preparing to divest some of its gaming assets in Japan, reports Bloomberg, citing sources.

Chinese giant Tencent is preparing to divest some of its gaming assets in Japan, Bloomberg reports, citing sources.

We continue our weekly series of YouTube interviews. The guest of the new episode is Dmitry Svetlov, the creative director of the game studio Odd Meter, known for the art-house game Indika

The Russian retailer "M.Video" shared sales statistics for Electronic Arts' football simulators in their stores. The number turned out to be not that large—since 2011, it has sold less than a million copies of the games.

No sooner had the Japanese solo developer lemorion_1224 announced 2 million copies sold of Meccha Chameleon than the game's sales increased by another million

Pearl Abyss continues to share the successes of the action-adventure game Crimson Desert. The company announced reaching a new sales milestone on social media

Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive, revealed that the studio's latest release, 007 First Light, is nearing the three-million mark in sales. Although it hasn't yet recuperated its budget, the financial target is significantly lower than the previously reported $200 million. Discussions are currently underway regarding future collaborations with Bond license owner Amazon beyond the game's initial year of content.

Metacore, a mobile gaming studio, has announced the termination of 159 staff positions in Finland and the shutdown of its operations in both Germany and Sweden.

Russian game developers will soon be able to count on support from a new fund, claims "Kommersant". According to the newspaper, the fund will be jointly launched by Hobby World and Indie GO.

Brendan Greene, the creator of PUBG, has revealed a restructuring plan for PlayerUnknown Productions. He acknowledged that he has "reached the limits of how far I can continue to fund this journey in its current form"

Atari continues its spree of M&A deals. This time, it announced the acquisition of the studio Hipster Whale.

Atari continues to engage in M&A deals. This time, it announced the acquisition of the studio Hipster Whale

Integrated Media Company (IMC), which owns brands such as Fandom and Gamespot, is preparing to acquire Playstack, the publisher known for titles like Balatro, Abiotic Factor, and The Rise of the Golden Idol. This information was first reported by Game Developer.

The British holding company TruFin has decided to sell its stake in Playstack—a publisher with a portfolio that includes Balatro, Abiotic Factor, Mortal Shell, and many other well-known games.

The British holding company TruFin has decided to sell its stake in Playstack— a publisher with a portfolio that includes Balatro, Abiotic Factor, Mortal Shell, and many other well-known games.

The game hit the million mark in just under a month.

The South Korean company KRAFTON has agreed to pay the studio Unknown Worlds a promised multimillion-dollar bonus. This was reported by sources from The Korea Economic Daily.

The investment firm Yolo Investments has announced the launch of a new $250 million fund. The funds will be directed towards companies that are raising investments as part of Series A-C funding rounds