Weekly News Digest #33

Hi all,

We are now polishing our H1’22 Gaming Deals Activity Report and plan to release it this week. Meanwhile, you can read about the notable deals of the past week below!

We want to thank Hiro Capital and The Games Fund for supporting this digest.

 MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Netherlands-based video game developer, publisher, and distributor Soedesco acquires Spain-based VR games developer Superlumen for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition goes in line with Soedesco’s strategy of expanding to the Spain market. As for Superlumen, the deal will allow the studio to focus on developing of its own IPs and projects.

Tencent (SEHK: 700) plans to increase its stake in France-based game publisher and developer Ubisoft (ETR: UEN). China-based giant reportedly plans to purchase shares from the Guillemot family and some of the public shareholders. The exact stake to be acquired is yet undisclosed. 

 VENTURE FINANCING

US-based startup Regression Games has raised $4.2m of Seed funding. The company will use the funds to grow the engineering team and speed up the development of its AI-centric gaming and esports ecosystem.

Netherlands-based Japanese blockchain games developer Murasaki has raised $1.5m in a  Seed funding round led by Incubate Fund. The proceeds will go towards the development of web3 games, including the studio’s premiere play-to-earn title Cyberstella.

Korea-based Nerdystar — an investment arm of the Korea-based games publisher Line Games, has raised $5.8m in a round. The round was led by Blocore, with participation from FTX Ventures, and GuildFi. The funds will be used towards the development and launch of its web3 game platform Luxon. The premiere title on the platform will be the NFT-focused game Desperado B218: The Scars of Exos.

Germany-based AAA gaming studio Gunzilla Games has secured $46m of funding in a round led by Republic Capital with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners, Animoca Brands, and others. The funding will be used to support the studio’ recently teased ​​battle royale game Off the Grid, which will support a blockchain-based marketplace for players to trade their in-game items.