Drawing on Aream & Co.’s advisory work and InvestGame’s transaction intelligence, the Q1 2026 Gaming Market Update breaks down where deals closed, capital concentrated, and platform growth persisted in the global gaming market.
Here’s what defined Q1 2026:
- M&A surged to its highest post-pandemic level: 52 transactions totalled $7.7B, headlined by Savvy’s $6B acquisition of Moonton and Scopely’s $1B purchase of Loom Games.
- Public markets stayed quiet — macro did the talking: capital offerings held at just $1.0B across 11 deals, pressured by broader economic headwinds and AI-driven investor rotation.
- Private funding held steady, but early-stage dried up: $0.8B deployed across 101 deals, with early-stage activity at its lowest point in recent years.
- PC and console broke records: Steam hit all-time highs in quarterly revenue ($5.6B) and peak concurrent users (42.7M), while console revenue reached a record $21.7B on Switch 2 momentum.
- Mobile IAP held its ground: spend stayed at $20.5B, even as download volumes continued to hit multi-year lows.
For a comprehensive breakdown of deal flow, platform performance, and capital-market trends, access the Aream & Co. Q1 2026 Gaming Update below.
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