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Gaming Deals Activity Report H1’22

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Jul, 2022 In collaboration with

Gaming Deals Activity

Report

STRONG START ̶ AND

CHALLENGING FUTURE

H1ʼ22

Supported by

Executive Summary H1’22

$
43.3B

value of 455 deals (closed)

$
113.6B

value of 468 deals (closed + announced)

Total

By Deal Type

Value of Closed Deals*, $m

By Target Sector

Number of Closed Deals*

Note: (*) announced transactions are not included in the

charts and graphs; see Methodology & Glossary (p. 22)

2

It should be noted, however, that almost 71%

of the deal value in H1’22 was contributed

by 5 mega-deals, including Zynga, Asmodee,

Nintendo, Playtika, and Sumo Group.

Private deals continue breaking the records —

almost $8B value raised across 316 deals

in H1’22, highlighting strong investors’
firmness

in Gaming business even during the current

turbulent times. 34% of all Private deals total

value came from Blockchain- associated

placements ($2.7B across 163 deals) in

comparison to 10% in H1’21 ($489m), and 2%

in H1’20 ($22m).

Public markets continue to perform poorly

since the beginning of 2022, demonstrating

a 4x shrink in the deal value ($4.3B vs. $17.1B)

and a 4x decrease in the number

of transactions (13 vs. 56), compared to H1’21.

Above mentioned macroeconomic environment

and gaming market specific challenges put

pressure on the gaming stocks, with all this

likely to result in a general aversion to all forms

of public offerings till the end of 2022, with

public listings (IPOs or SPACs) being

hit the hardest.

Executive Summary H1’22

$
31.0B

value of 172 closed deals

$
99.8B

value of 180 deals (closed + announced)

Gaming only

3

The first half of 2022 may be described

as somewhat contradictory: Gaming industry

has started out strong and brought some new

records in the investment activity, but it has

also seen market’s growth correction and

weak financials results of many gaming comps

in Q2’22. In addition to the macroeconomic

challenges, the market has been largely

impacted by post-pandemic performance

lagging, multiple release dates shifts, and

post-IDFA adaptation.

Overall, H1’22 have seen 455 closed deals

with the total deal value of $43.3B, or $113.6B

including announced but not yet closed deals

— a new record for the industry, beating last

full year ’s total closed and announced deal

value of $80.4B.

M&A activity in H1’22 has been characterized

by the decreasing number of deals (–21%

YoY), with only 126 closed deals (vs. 159 deals

in H1’21) and growing deal value (+36% YoY)

which reached $31.1B, excluding the

announced deals (e.g., the acquisition

of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft for $68.7B).

The Gaming segment took the leadership

in driving deal activity, occupying 72% of the

total value ($31.0B) across 172 closed deals.

The segment’s growth was greatly amended

by such newsmakers as the $12.7B Zynga

acquisition by Take-Two, Saudi Arabia’s PIF

buying 5.01% of Nintendo for $2.7B, Take-Two

pricing of $2.7B senior notes, Joffre Capital

buying 25.7% of Playtika shares for $2.2B, and

Epic Games raising $2.0B from Sony and The

Lego Group, among others.

The Top-15 Strategic Investors showed

an outstanding performance in terms of the

announced deal value, with a total value

of $97.7B (vs. $21.4B in H1’21), leading

to a 4.5x growth; the total number of deals saw

a notable decrease of 45%, from 104 deals

in H1’21 to only 57 deals in H1’22. Sony led the

list with 8 closed deals and the total value

of $5.7B, with the two remarkable deals: the

acquisition of Bungie for $3.6B, and the

participation in the Epic Games $2B round.

Executive Summary H1’22

The Top-15 VC funds have all together

injected over $3.6B into Gaming industry

companies, throughout 170+ deals (vs. $1.1B

across 60+ deals in H1’21). The top spot

is yet again reserved by BITKRAFT Ventures,

with $369m invested throughout 33 deals,

out of which the fund led 18. They are

followed by Andreessen Horowitz ($608m

across 11 deals) and Makers Fund ($494m

across 14 deals).

Blockchain gaming continues seeing positive

YoY growth metrics: the Q2’22 total deal

number was up 4x YoY (80 vs. 20), while the

total deal value was at 2.7x YoY ($1.08B

vs. $406m). While the above showcases the

continued investor interest in the potential

future of the blockchain enabled business

models, the QoQ growth metrics were down,

indicating the continuation of the 2022

market correction we predicted in the last

report
. The biggest Q1’22 deals were

Improbable Worlds $150m Series B+, Sky

Mavis bail-out $150m Series B+, and GEMS

$55m combined Seed and Series A. Deal

sizes are also clearly dropping.

$
23.5B

value of 81 closed deals

$
92.3B

value of 88 deals (closed and announced)

Gaming M&As only

4

Despite that, in H1’22 the Gaming sector

showed growth of 12% and reached $23.5B

across 81 deals (vs. $20.9B across 100 deals

in H1’21);
the total share of Gaming sector

in the overall deal value decreased from 91%

in H1’21 to 75%
(–17%). The Other segment

(see Methodology & Glossary, p.22) contributed

14% (vs. 1.9% in H1’21) across 6 deals with

the total value of $4.4B, with 2 mega-deals

here being Asmodee acquisition by Embracer

for $3.1B, and SteelSeries acquisition by GN

Store Nord for $1.2B. The Platform & Tech

segment holds the third place in terms of the

deal value with the total value of $1.8B (vs.

$1.5B in H1’21), while Esports takes fourth

place, with the total value of $1.5B (vs. 58m in

H1’21), contributing 4.9%.

Even with such a noticeable decrease in the

number of deals, witnessed in H1’22, it’s too

early to say that the negative trend will

continue, as the most active M&A players,

including Embracer, Sony, and Microsoft, are

still eager to keep on going with their M&A

strategy; the new players, such as PIF

(incl. Savvy Gaming Group), will probably

continue it’s aggressive M&A activity further

in 2022.

deals value

However, even with such a tremendous rise,

it should be noted that almost 71% of the

deal value in H1’22 was contributed by

5 mega-deals: Zynga acquisition by Take-Two

Interactive ($12.7B); Embracer Group

acquisition of Asmodee ($3.1B); Saudi

Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)

purchase of a minority stake in Nintendo

($2.7B); Joffre Capital purchase of a minority

stake in Playtika ($2.2B), and Sumo Group

acquisition by Tencent ($1.3B).

M&A activity in H1’22 achieved

controversial results
. On the one hand,

we witnessed a decreasing interest in the

M&A activity in terms of the deal number
,

with only 126 closed deals (vs. 159 deals

in H1’21), showing a decrease of 21%. On the

other hand, even without the announced back

in Jan’22 Microsoft acquisition of Activision

Blizzard for $68.7B, M&A activity reached

a new high of $31.1B deal value (vs. $22.9

in H1’21), showing a growth of 36%.

M&A Activity

Closed M&As in the Video

Games Industry

number

of deals

5

Early-stage VC placements have taken

up 38% of the total deal value ($3B)
across

257 deals (81%), showing a significant share

growth of the segment (vs. 26% in H1’21, and

27% in H1’20, respectively) — more capital

is now allocated into Gaming industry through

earlier stages. H1’22 also saw the outstanding

Seed round of $450m, raised by Yuga Labs,

and led by a16z.

As 2022 has come to the end of its first half,

Private deals have again broken the records:

316 deals of $7.9B total value
, meaning a

steady powerful growth of 1.6x vs. H1’21

($4.8B), and 5.5x vs. H1’20 ($1.4B). H1’22

also performs stronger than the last two

quarters of 2021 ($7.2B across 282 deals),

which indicates investors’ continuing
firmness

in Gaming business even through the current

turbulent times.

Private Investments in the Video

Games Industry

Private Investment Activity

Late-stage deals accounted for 33% of the

total deal value ($2.6B)
across 27 deals,

representing an ongoing decline in the category

share (with 64% in H1’21, and 71% in H1’20,

respectively). The Late-stage activity has

slowed down a bit (–17% vs. $3.1B in H1’21)

across pretty much the same number of deals

(27 vs. 28); with the biggest deal being Coda

Payments $690m Series B+ round.

Corporate placements represent 29% of the

total Private deals value ($2B+)
, all thanks

mostly to the biggest Private round of H1’22,

Epic Games $2B raise from Sony and KIRKBI

(The Lego Group) in April.

34% of all Private deals total value came from

Blockchain-associated placements
($2.7B

across 163 deals); compare this to 10%

in H1’21 ($489m), and 2% in H1’20 ($22m).

deals value

number

of deals

6

Public markets
continue to perform poorly

since the beginning of 2022, demonstrating

a 4x shrink in the deal value and

a 4x decrease in the number of transactions,

compared to H1’21.

Nevertheless, Q2’22 has seen some
light

improvement vs. Q1’22
, with Take-Two

selling $2.7B senior notes, and Embracer

receiving $1B from issuing shares to Savvy

Gaming Group.

deals value

The negative trend is clear when we look at the

number of companies going public since the

beginning of the year:

— Azerion (via SPAC) and Skonec Entertainment

(via IPO in Korean stock market).

— Recently announced FaZe Clan (via SPAC),

finishing 25% down on its debut trading day.

Macroeconomic changes have clearly
altered the

investing climate
across public markets and

gaming stocks, in particular. Moreover,
decreasing

user acquisition spending in the post-IDFA era,

post-pandemic changes in the consumer

consumption, and massive delays in AAA-games

releases put additional pressure on the gaming

stocks.

All of the above mentioned is likely to result

in 
a general aversion to all forms of public

offerings
till the end of the year, with public

listings (IPOs or SPACs) being hit the hardest.

It is unclear when the next IPO window will

reopen.

Public Offerings in the Video

Games Industry

Public Offerings Activity

number

of deals

7

Rank*

Venture Capital Fund

# of Deals

Total Deal Value**, $m

# of Leading Deals

Lead Deals Value**, $m

Selected Lead Deals

1

BITKRAFT Ventures

33

369

18

169

Lightforge Games, GGWP, Inworld Ai

2

Andreessen Horowitz

11

608

9

574

Yuga Labs, Pahdolabs, Metatheory, Alta

3

Makers Fund

14

494

6

75

Ancient8, MetaKing Studios, Studio 369

4

Griffin Gaming Partners

22

298

4

119

Spyke, N3TWORK, SuperTeam Games

5

Galaxy Interactive

22

292

5

36

Ncore, Gadsme, Mirror World, NEKOM

6

Play Ventures

13

100

9

27

Original Games, Block Tackle

7

Index Ventures

3

300

3

300

Dream Games, Backbone, Bit Odd

8

Hiro Capital

7

194

4

117

FRVR, Incredibuild, Machinations

9

Konvoy

7

70

5

45

Gamefam, Solsten, Sanlo, Pok Pok

10

Sequoia Capital

8

584

2

44

Galaxy Fight Club, BUD

11

vgames

12

43

8

12

Candivore, InnPlay, Octoplay, Day2 Games

12

Tiger Global

6

185

2

104

PortalOne, Metafy

13

GEM Capital

7

15

7

15

HypeMasters, Game Garden, Vestan

14

Sisu Games Ventures

13

55

5

4

Roleverse, Extra Dimension Games

15

The Games Fund

5

12

5

12

HypeMasters, Made on Earth Games

Note: (*) including recently announced and unclosed transactions; (**) based on the internal

weighted average ranking system, this rating reflects most active strategics, thus the deal value

alone does not guarantee the top spot — the number of deals is substantial too.

Top-15 VC Funds

Note: (*) based on the internal weighted average ranking system;

(**) based on investments with the disclosed deal value

8

The acquisition of Asmodee for $3.1B, and

the acquisition of three studios from the

Square Enix — Crystal Dynamics,

Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal —

for the total value of $300m, plus other

2 deals, helped Embracer take fourth place.

Microsoft, with its mega-deal

of an acquisition of Activision Blizzard for

$68.7B, took the fifth place.

While the total number of deals showed

a significant decline due to the current bear

situation on public markets and, as a result

of that, lower market multiples, we continue

to believe that in the second half of the year

the most active strategic investors, such

as Sony, Tencent, and Embracer will catch

up with the pace; this, as well as a continued

interest from the MENA investors, could

possibly lead to some more remarkable deals

by the end of 2022.

In H1’22, the
Top-15 Strategic Investors

showed an outstanding performance
, with

a total value of $97.7B (vs. $21.4B in H1’21),

showing a 4.5x growth; meanwhile, the total

number of deals saw a notable decrease

of 45%, from 104 deals in H1’21 to only

57 deals in H1’22.

Sony led the list with 8 closed deals and the

total value of $5.7B, with two remarkable

deals: the acquisition of Bungie for $3.6B,

and the participation in Epic Games $2B

round.

The first strategic Gaming investor from the

MENA region, Saudi Arabia’s Public

Investment Fund (PIF), with its subsidiary

Savvy Gaming Group, takes up second place

and continues actively investing in the

Gaming industry: during H1’22, it took part

in 7 transactions, with the total amount

of $6.4B, including investments in 5 public

gaming companies.

Tencent, with the total deal value of $1.4B

across 10 deals, including the acquisition

of Sumo Group, took the third place.

Note: (*) including recently announced and unclosed transactions; (**) based on the internal

weighted average ranking system, this rating reflects most active strategics, thus the deal value

alone does not guarantee the top spot — the number of deals is substantial too.

Top-15 Strategic Investors*

9

Rank**

Strategic

Investor

# of deals

Disclosed

Value, $m

Deal Type

Investment

Focus

1

Sony

8

5 700

M&As,

Corporate

PC & Console,

Tech

2

Saudi PIF (incl.

Savvy Gaming

Group)

6

3 735

M&As,

Corporate

PC & Console,

Esports

3

Tencent incl.

subsidiaries

10

1 463

M&As,

Corporate

PC & Console,

Mobile

4

Embracer

Group

6

3 400

M&As

PC & Console,

Mobile, Board

5

Microsoft

1

68 700

M&As

PC & Console

6

Take-Two

Interactive

1

12 700

M&As,

Corporate

PC & Console,

Mobile

7

AppLovin

2

1 050

M&As

Tech, Mobile

8

Team 17

3

217

M&As

PC & Console

9

Kakao Games

3

132

Corporate

PC & Console,

Mobile

10

Nexters

3

125

M&As

Mobile

11

Krafton

5

89

M&As,

Corporate

Mobile, Tech

12

Overwolf

3

33

M&As,

Corporate

P2E, Tech

13

Ubisoft

3

24

Corporate

PC & Console,

P2E

14

Stillfront
Group

1

301

M&As

Mobile,

PC & Console

15

Nacon

2

61

M&As,

PC & Console

Note: (*) including recently announced and unclosed

transactions; (**) based on the internal weighted average

ranking system, this rating reflects most active strategics, thus

the deal value alone does not guarantee the top spot — the

number of deals is substantial too.

$68.7B

$883m stake in Feb’22

$3.1B

$12.7B

$3.6B

+

+

H1’22 Largest Announced /

Closed M&A Transactions

+

+

$332m stake in Feb’22

$2.7B stake in May’22

$235m stake in Mar ’22

$1.05B

$450m

10

When it comes to mixed and women-led

companies, gender diversity across

54 companies is represented the following

way: 57% of all companies are in the Gaming

segment, Platform & Tech takes the second

place with 41% across 22 companies, while

in Other, there is only one company —

US-based gaming agency Loaded, which

raised $20m back in Apr ’22.

For the first time in our Report, we have

collected data about the founders of the

companies that took part in the closed deals

in the context of gender diversity.

Across 436 companies, 88% of all founders

are men. Mixed genders are holding second

place with 10% (43 companies). Women-led

companies took third place, with 3%

in 11 companies.

Gender Breakdown

Gender Diversity

11

11

The US-based companies accounted for 30% of all companies

with mixed and women-only founders, while UK-based 6

companies contributed 11%; Turkey holds the third place,

with 4 companies.

With the current stats, it’s hard to predict the future trends

so far, but we will continue gathering data to evaluate gender

diversity based on the full-year data.

*To our best knowledge, no companies in H1’22 were led

by non-binary, or gender-neutral founders, or by person

of other genders. If we did make a mistake, however, please

let us know at
digest@investgame.net
.

Gaming Companies

Overall, given the current market narrative and

YTD performance,
high levels of the Gaming

investment activity seen in 2021 would

be pretty difficult to replicate
this year.

However, we see multiple
positive trends

supporting the development of investment

activity
, with 2022 results expected to surpass

2020 figures:

— Gaming VCs sitting on record levels of dry

powder, given massive fundraising waves over

the last years.

— Corporate activity remaining strong and less

likely to pull back from the venture market.

Through the first half of 2022,
Gaming

investment activity has been incredibly

robust in terms of attracted capital
, staying

on the same level as in H1’21 ($4.6B),

whereas the number of deals has almost

halved (85 vs. 163).

— Strong performance of Q2’22 has been

largely driven by a $2B Corporate round

raised by Epic Games, $1B PIPE by Embracer,

and $0.25B raised by Probably Monsters.

— The Top-3 deals combined accounted for

93% of the total deal value.

Gaming: Investment Activity

H1’22 has seen
same as previous year H1’21

activity trends across platforms
:

— Mobile gaming studios continue to drive

most of the transactions in Gaming segment

(45% of deals), followed by Multiplatform

comps attracting most of capital (70%+

of value), with Epic Games contributing the

most ($2B in H1’22; $1B in H1’21).

As usual,
US-based companies are leading

the charts
by deals closed and amount raised,

followed by UK
— both geos
continue to

show sustainable performance
. Whereas

Turkey (#3) activity has notably declined

(8 deals in H1’22 vs. 22 in H1’21).

H1’22: Deal Value, $m

Investment Activity* in the

Gaming Sector

Note: (*) Investment Activity includes Private

Investments and PIPE, Other

corporate

number

of deals

13

With the poor performance of Public listings

in H1’22 (only 2 closed deals
for the total

amount of $83m vs. 11 deals with the value

of $5.1B in H1’21), M&A deals have became

almost the sole contributor to the Exit
activity,

with the significant change in the overall

share: from 80.3% ($20.9B) in H1’21, to

99.6% ($23.4B) in H1’22.

Despite such mega-deal as the acquisition

of Zynga by Take-Two Interactive for $12.7B,

as well as a relatively active M&A activity,

H1’22 Gaming Segment showed a slight

decrease in the closed deal value
of $23.6B

vs. $26.0B (–10% YoY), and
a significant

decrease in the total number of deals:
83

vs. 111 (–25% YoY).

Gaming: M&A and Exits Activity

In H1’21 we saw a pretty equal proportion

of contribution between the PC & Console and

Mobile segments (43.7% vs. 50.2%), though

in H1’22 we noticed a substantial shift, as the

Mobile segment contributed 67% of the total

deal value ($15.8B vs. $13.1B in H1’21) across

25 deals (vs. 35 deals in H1’21). Meanwhile,

PC & Console took up second place and

contributed 20% ($4.7B vs. $11.4B in H1’21)

in 30 deals (vs. 49 deals in H1’21). Finally, the

Multiplatform segment share showed

a noticeable growth, from 5.6% ($1.4B)
in H1’21

to 12.7% in H1’22 ($3B).

Even with the obvious poor performance

of Public Offerings, which probably won’t have

any positive changes until the end of the year,

M&A activity has almost offset this decline in the

deal value, compared to H1’21, and thus, could

potentially overcome the results of H2’21. Saudi

Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) continues

its mighty M&A activity ($4.9B across 5 deals),

while other strategic investors, including

Microsoft, Tencent, and Embracer Group, who

may potentially catch up with 2021 pace, will be

the main drivers of M&A activity in Gaming

segment, — and this just might lead us to

another record-breaking year.

Exits* in the Gaming Sector

deals value

number

of deals

Note: (*) Exits include M&As, direct listings, SPACs, and IPOs

14

number

of deals

By the end of the first half of 2022, we’ve

seen
25 Late-stage VC and Corporate deals,

with a total disclosed value of $2.8B
. This

represents a 1.2x growth in the deal value

vs. H1’21 ($2.3B across 55 deals), and

a whopping 7x leap against H1’20 ($407m

across 17 deals). The average disclosed deal

value also increased, with $190m on average

in H1’22 beating $114m back in H1’21, and

$45m in H1’20.

Q2’22 has dramatically changed the picture for

the category, as Epic’s $2B round happened

in April. Leaving that one aside, Q2’22 saw

9 deals of $99m disclosed value (a 7.5x

decrease vs. $746 in Q1’22).

As in H1’21,
Multiplatform segment has again

snatched up the first place with $2.2B
(77%

of the total deal value, vs. 82% and $1.9B

in H1’21), with Mobile coming in second, with

$581m (20%, vs. $278m, or 12% in H1’21).

Gaming: Late-stage VC & Corporate

The top-3 placements have taken up 85%

of the category deal value
:

— The already mentioned US-based Epic Games

$2B funding by Sony and KIRKBI, with each

party investing $1B respectively, bringing the

company’s valuation at $31.5B.

— Turkey-based Dream Games closing $255m

Series C round back in January, led by Index

Ventures, bringing the company’s valuation

to $2.75B.

— US-based Thatgamecompany $160m Series

B+ round from TPG and Sequoia back in March.

H1’22: Deals Value, $m

Late-stage VC & Corporate Activity in the Gaming Sector, $m

late-stage

corporate

15

36 Seed rounds were closed with a total

amount of $157m (vs. 70 deals of $216m

in H1’21), while 22 Series A rounds amounted

for $635m, or 80% of the total Early-stage deal

value (vs. $352m across 22 deals, or 62%

in H1’21).

The PC & Console segment has taken up the

first place with $358m (45%) raised across

15 deals (vs. just $43m across 15 deals

in H1’21); it has overtaken the Mobile segment,

which raised $236m (30%) throughout 27 deals

(vs. $296m throughout 45 deals in H1’21).

Multiplatform came in third, with $176.5m

(22%) raised across 11 deals (vs. $187m across

24 deals back in H1’21).

As we’ve mentioned earlier,
H1’22

Early-stage placements have become more

capital concentrated
, with 58 deals bringing

in $792m, vs. 92 deals of $568m total value

back in H1’21. This represents a 39% YoY
rise

in the deal value, and a –37% fall in the

number of deals. This also means that
the

average check has significantly increased

in H1’22, with Seed investments rising 41%

($4.92m per round vs. $3.5m in H1’21), and

Series A jumping up 80% ($31.7m per round

vs. $17.6m in H1’21).

Gaming: Early-stage VC

Early-stage Investment Activity in the Gaming Sector, in $m

The top 4 deals with the total deal value of

$441m have contributed 56%
of all H1’22

value, including ProbablyMonsters $250m

Series A, led by LKCM Headwater

Investments, Frvr $76m Series A led by Hiro,

PortalOne $60m Series A led by Tiger Global,

and Spyke $55m Seed round, led by Griffin.

The US market is yet again the most

attractive one for investors
, with $460m

(58% of the total deal value) raised across

18 deals (vs. $165m, raised across 23 deals

in H1’21). Portugal, somewhat surprisingly,

came in second, with $77.5m (10% of all

value) raised throughout 2 deals, thanks

to the Frvr $76m deal.

number

of deals

deals value

16

Blockchain

Gaming

We continue to see positive YoY growth metrics in

blockchain gaming
: the Q2’22 total deal number was up 4x

YoY (80 vs. 20), while the total deal value was at 2.7x YoY

($1.08B vs $406m).

While the above showcases the continued investor interest

in the potential future of the blockchain-enabled business

models, the QoQ growth metrics were down, indicating the

continuation of the 2022 market correction we predicted

in the last
report
.

The total deal number for Q2’22 was down –11% QoQ (80

vs. 90), while the total deal value was down –34% QoQ

($1.08B vs $1.63B).

The biggest Q2’22 deals were Improbable Worlds $150m

Series B+, Sky Mavis bail-out $150m Series B+, and GEMS

$55m combined Seed and Series A. Deal sizes are also clearly

dropping.

Blockchain Gaming Deals

Blockchain Gaming Deals in the

Video Game Industry**

deals value

number

of deals

Note: (*) the following analysis has been provided by Naavik consulting firm, based on

the InvestGame data; (**) only closed deals are reflected in the graphs

18

But it will be interesting to see how

Improbable goes about licensing

its technology to more Web3 metaverse

companies. Read more about Yuga Labs and

Improbable

here
.

One interesting company that raised a $50m

Series A was GEMS. They describe

themselves as ‘a one-of-a-kind ecosystem

designed to be the ultimate, one-stop gaming

destination, connecting crypto and esports

gamers’. See their pitch deck
here
.

It’s a pretty ambitious and creative vision, but

not only are quality crypto games far on the

horizon, but also crypto games that can

become well established esports are even

further. We’re skeptical about who exactly
will

inhabit those 23 Esports player friendly

hotels of GEMS, but time will tell.

One investment that definitely skews the

overall deal data is Sky Mavis $150m Series

B+. This follows their $625m Ronin bridge

hack, the impact of which is difficult

to overstate. This is not only the single

greatest successful heist in the history

of crypto, but it is also one of the single

greatest successful heists in human history —

the only other higher one being the Dresden

Green Vault heist of $1B. And if you compare

it to a list of the
greatest successful fictional

heists of all time
, Sky Mavis loss exceeds

Hollywood’s wildest imagination. The Series

B+ round here was really more of a bail-out for

Sky Mavis, rather than anything else.

Improbable Worlds was one infrastructure

company that managed to raise a $150m

Series B+ during this quarter. This likely
comes

on the back of Yuga Labs raising a whopping

$450m Seed round in Q1’22, as they’re using

Improbable’s technology to power the

multiplayer future of The Otherside

metaverse. Both Yuga Labs and Improbable

funding rounds were also led by a16z, which is

quite telling in itself.

Over the quarter, ~66% of the deal count was

concentrated in Seed round investments,

while ~93% of the deal value was equally

split between Seed, Series A and Series B+

rounds. The latter mainly indicates smaller

Seed round check sizes ($7m in Q2’22

vs. $12m in Q1’22), 2021’s Seed round

companies graduating to Series A rounds

(with an average check size of $25.5m), and

some to Series B+, as highlighted previously.

Around 1/3 of all Seed round deals were

higher than the ~$7M/deal average, with

Iskra, Untamed Planet, and Directive Games

seeing Seed check sizes ≥$20m.

Almost all Series A deals (11) were higher

than $10m/deal, with GEMS, N3TWORK

Studios, Playful Studios, and Irreverent Labs

seeing Series A check sizes >=$40m. The

remainder deal value of the quarter was

in various Series B+ rounds across a total

of 3 deals. These were Sky Mavis at $150m,

Improbable Worlds at $150m, and Animoca

Blowfish Studios at $19.3m. There was also

one notable Series B for BUD at $37m, which

was led by Sequoia Capital.

Blockchain Gaming Deals

Note: (*) the following analysis has been provided by Naavik

consulting firm, based on InvestGame data

19

All that said, both the deal number and the

deal value has further slowed down over the

last quarter. And if Q2’22 performance is any

indicator, deal activity will continue

to normalize to realistic levels over 2022.

Crypto winter performed a massive market

clean up, and investors are getting smarter

with their bets, while builders continue

to build.

Want more alpha about blockchain and F2P

gaming every week? Check out
Naavik Pro
,

and use the
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One class of investments this quarter did not

see much of is guilds. If there is one corner

of Web3 gaming that is under major fire,

it is probably guilds. Most of the first wave

of crypto games were built for a bull market,

and a large majority of guilds were mainly

focused on Axie Infinity. Today, a large swath

of the first wave games have been wiped out,

and Axie Infinity is on a downward spiral, which

means most guilds don’t have a reason to exist.

The buzzword for every guild currently is ‘pivot’,

and it will be interesting to see how the

seemingly bleak future of guilds plays out over

the course of 2022–23.

Overall, it seems like the blockchain gaming

deal market continues to mature into its second

stage, wherein the companies garnering most

of the funding attention are no longer the ones

building platform layers on which future

blockchain games could live, but rather the

blockchain gaming studios themselves that can

produce engaging content that makes use of

blockchain gaming infrastructure.

Blockchain Gaming Deals

Note: (*) the following analysis has been provided by Naavik

consulting firm, based on InvestGame data

20

Appendix

The private data contained in this report

is based on information from sources believed

to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness

cannot be guaranteed. Sources include public

media, our business partners, data provider

S&P Capital IQ, and market insights.

InvestGame tracks closed transactions

(unless otherwise noted) in the Video Games

industry, with target companies having core

business operations related to the Video

Games market. Please note that we do not

track pure gambling, betting, and non-gaming

blockchain/Web3 companies.

Methodology & Glossary

Private

Investments

Late-stage VC

Corporate

Early-stage VC

Public

Offerings

Fixed income

IPO, SPAC

PIPE, other

Deal Types Overview

Control

Minority

M&As


Control M&As — mergers and acquisitions

resulting in the change of control

(50% + ownership)


Minority M&As — sale of a minority stake

in the business


Early-stage VC — pre-seed, seed, and Series

A rounds with a lead VC fund


Late-stage VC — Series B, Series C,

and later-lettered venture rounds


Corporate Investments — investment with

a lead investor being corporation


IPOs — the process of company going public

including IPOs, SPACs, and direct listings


Fixed-income — debt-related instrument

with fixed payments and interest payments


PIPE, other — private investment in public

equity, direct share issue, and other

transactions with publicly traded stock

Deal Type Terms Glossary

Target’s Sector Overview

Other

Hardware

Other

Cash-related

Gaming

PC & Сonsole

Multiplatform

Mobile

Outsourcing

VR/AR

Esports

Platform

& Tech

Platform

Tech

VR/AR

Blockchain-powered

The information, opinions, estimates, and

forecasts contained herein are as of the date

hereof and are subject to change without

prior notification. We seek to update our

research as appropriate.

22

If you’d like to support InvestGame,
Patreon

donation is always appreciated!

InvestGame Patreon

The free version of this report includes general + Gaming data. To get

more specific data, please contact us at
digest@investgame.net
.

23

This report is intended for general information purposes only

and is educational in nature; it is not a solicitation or an offer

to buy or sell any financial instruments, or to participate

in any particular trading strategy. Nothing in this document

constitutes a personal recommendation, legal, or other

professional advice.

You agree that you shall not copy, revise, amend, create

a derivative work, provide to any third party, or in any way

commercially exploit any InvestGame research, and that you

shall not reproduce data in any form or by any means, without

the prior written consent of InvestGame.

This document is for distribution only, as may be permitted by

applicable local laws. It is not directed to, or intended for

distribution to or use by, any person or entity who is a citizen

or resident of or located in any state, country or other

jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, availability

or use would be contrary to law or regulation or would subject

InvestGame to any registration or licensing requirement
within

such jurisdiction.

Disclaimer

24

InvestGame team proudly presents Global Gaming Deals Activity Reports:

the recent quarterly
Q1’22
, the annual
FY’21
, the one covering

Q1–Q3’21
,

and the one on
 
H1’21
. You can find others
here
. We also make weekly email

digests, covering all the latest gaming deals (
subscribe
!). If you like what

we do, please

support us on Patreon
.

We would love to thank our dear friends at

Hiro Capital

for supporting this

Report.
Please note that this support did not in any way affect the integrity

or fairness of the data, and the analysis presented
.

We would also like to extend thanks to our friends at

Naavik

for covering the

Blockchain Gaming Deals part of this report.

Thank you for reading!

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to Readers

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