Weekly News Digest #49

Last week was marked by a lack of significant transactions to feature in our digest. During this calm period, we are dedicating our efforts to preparing new research that we will share with you soon, so stay tuned!

As always, you can review the noteworthy deals from the previous week in the ‘Notable Transactions’ section below.

We thank MY.GAMES and Xsolla for supporting this digest.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

The Netherlands-based multiplatform games publisher and developer MY.GAMES has sold UAE-based mobile games publisher Mamboo Entertainment back to its founding team for an undisclosed sum. MY.GAMES initially acquired Mamboo Entertainment in Sep’21 for more than $2m. Mamboo Entertainment, known for publishing over 50 hyper-casual titles, now plans to focus on developing skill-based games.

UK-based games publisher Reforged Studios has acquired South Africa-based PC & Console games developer Yellow Lab Games for an undisclosed sum. Yellow Studios is developing the roguelite RPG Metavoidal, set for release on Steam in Q1’25. This marks Reforged Studios’ third acquisition in 2024, following its most recent deal in Aug’24.

US-based esports organization M80 has acquired US-based esports organization Beastcoast for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will enable M80 to expand into new esports disciplines, including Dota 2 and Pokémon. However, the deal excludes Beastcoast’s Rainbow Six Siege team. As part of the agreement, the CEO of Beastcoast will transition to the Chief Business Development Officer role at M80.

VENTURE FINANCING

Cyprus-based mobile games developer Top App Games has raised $10m in a funding round. This follows an earlier investment in Jul’24, when the company received undisclosed funding from the founder of Utmost Games. The new funds will support the ongoing development of the debut title, Ludus: Merge Arena, and the creation of additional titles. Ludus is a company’s debut PvP RPG title that generated $2m in monthly revenue and has reached 3 million downloads.

India-based digital gaming and esports company Nazara Technologies (NSE: NAZARA) has invested $7.5m in its subsidiary, India-based esports company Nodwin Gaming. The funds will be used to develop Nodwin’s IPs and strengthen its market presence. Nodwin previously raised $28m in a corporate round from Nazara in May’23 and recently acquired India-based marketing agency Trinity Gaming for $2.8m. Additionally, Nazara Technologies has invested $8.2m to gain complete control of India-based media company Absolute Sports, the parent company of the Sportskeeda brand. The investment will involve purchasing shares from management ESOPs. Nazara had acquired a 19.35% stake in Absolute Sports for $17.4m in Sep’24. These transactions continue Nazara’s recent investment spree after its $100m preferential share issue.

UAE-based game distribution platform Playgama has raised $3m in a funding round led by The Open Platform and s16vc, with participation from FJ Labs, The Games Fund, TON Ventures, Velo Partners, and other investors. The funds will be used to enhance Playgama’s HTML5 games platform, which allows users to play games directly in their browsers. For developers, the platform provides the opportunity to publish games across multiple platforms through a single integration.

US-based UGC game studio Creators Corp has raised $2m in strategic funding from US-based Lumina Media. The studio focuses on developing user-generated content (UGC) games within Fortnite’s Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) platform. The funds will be used to create new titles and foster collaborations. Creators Corp. has already released 15 titles on UEFN, working with various celebrities and reaching a combined audience of 220 million active users.

UK-based games developer Dark Math Games has secured a seven-figure investment from MM Grupp. The studio, founded by former developers from ZA/UM—the team behind Disco Elysium—is currently working on a spiritual successor, a detective RPG titled XXX Nightshift. Dark Math Games is another studio focusing on creating a conceptual follower to Disco Elysium after ZA/UM conducted layoffs at the studio.

US-based multiplatform games developer Absurd Ventures has received an undisclosed investment from South Korea-based game publisher Smilegate. The funding will support the development of new IPs. Founded by former Rockstar Games CEO Dan Houser, Absurd Ventures focuses on multimedia content, including video games, TV series, and podcasts. The company’s gaming division is currently in the early stages of development.

Vietnam-based blockchain-powered P2E startup Ancient8 has received a grant from the Optimism Governance Fund. The grant will support the development of the company’s web3 ecosystem. Ancient8 is building gaming infrastructure tools for distribution and marketing in blockchain gaming. The company has previously raised $10m across two funding rounds.