Q3’24 Gaming Deals Report
Download PDFNov, 2024 From Volatility
to Stability
Q3’24 Gaming Deals Report
InvestGame x $GDEV Features
Recent news and platform additions
InvestGame updates
2
General
We’ve recently announced a collaboration with
$GDEV to produce a series of in-depth analyses
on key gaming investment trends and strategic
growth opportunities.
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We constantly update our extensive
List of Industry-Focused Funds
, which was
introduced earlier this year. Right now, over
140 funds investing in gaming companies are
listed with essential details on them.
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the expanded list
that
contains more data on the funds’ origin,
specialization, LinkedIn profiles, and emails.
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Most notable deals in Q3’24
Key highlights
3
Executive Summary
PRIVATE INVESTMENTS
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
PUBLIC OFFERINGS
Notes: (*) market cap at the IPO date; (**) cumulative amount of two fixed income deals in Jul’24 and Aug’24
4
Ongoing market shift toward a new normal
YoY quarterly snapshot of closed deals
Executive Summary
Note: some transactions do not have a disclosed deal value but are still counted in the total number of deals
(*) closed M&A deals incl. earn-out (excl. announced transactions, e.g., $2.0B Superplay acquisition)
PRIVATE INVESTMENTS
(in $B)
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
*
(in $B)
PUBLIC OFFERINGS
(in $B)
Quarterly capital deployment stabilized at $1B across 120 rounds
Private investments
PRIVATE INVESTMENTS:
Corporate, VC & PE
(in $B)
Executive Summary
5
“‘COVID” ACCELERATION
POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH
“HANGOVER”
STABILIZATION
Note: some transactions do not have a disclosed deal value but are still counted in the total number of deals
M&A
activity
has
picked
up
with
one
$B+ deal
announcement
per quarter
Mergers and acquisitions
Executive Summary
6
Note: some transactions do not have a disclosed deal value but are still counted in the total number of deals
M&As:
Control & Minority
(in $B)
“‘COVID” ACCELERATION
POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH
“HANGOVER”
STABILIZATION
First IPO over the last two years; public markets remain under pressure
Public offerings
7
Executive Summary
Note: some transactions do not have a disclosed deal value but are still counted in the total number of deals
PUBLIC OFFERINGS:
Listing, PIPE & FI
(in $B)
PEAK OF PUBLIC LISTING & SHARE ISSUE ACTIVITY
MACROECONOMIC INSTABILITY & GAMING STOCKS TURBULENCE
Gaming Content
Deals
Deals with Targets represented
by video game publishers
and/or developers
Gaming studios secure $100M+ quarterly across 30 rounds
VC early-stage rounds with gaming studios
EARLY-STAGE VC:
Gaming studios
(in $M)
9
Gaming
Note: some transactions do not have a disclosed deal value but are still counted in the total number of deals
“COVID” ACCELERATION
POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH
ESTABLISHING A NEW FUNDRAISING NORM
(stable Seed and volatile Series A)
10
Gaming studios face ongoing challenges in late-stage fundraising
VC late-stage & PE-led rounds with gaming studios
Gaming
Note: some transactions do not disclose deal value but are counted for the total number of deals
“COVID” ACCELERATION
CONTINUED LATE-STAGE MARKET HEADWINDS
POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH
LATE-STAGE VC & PE:
Gaming studios
(in $M)
VC FUNDS:
Ranked by number of deals
*
Most active VC funds:
2024
YTD
Pre-Seed/Seed rounds among Gaming, Platform
&
Tech studios (excl. web3, esports)
11
Gaming
Note: (*) weighted average ranking system (see p. 23)
VC FUNDS:
Ranked by value of deals
*
(in $M)
Most active VC funds:
2024
YTD
Series A rounds among Gaming, Platform
&
Tech studios (excl. web3, esports)
12
Gaming
Note: (*) weighted average ranking system (see p. 23)
VC FUNDS:
Ranked by number of deals
*
VC FUNDS:
Ranked by value of deals
*
(in $M)
Most active VC funds:
2024
YTD
Series B+ rounds among Gaming, Platform
&
Tech studios (excl. web3, esports)
13
Gaming
Note: (*) weighted average ranking system (see p. 23)
VC FUNDS:
Ranked by number of deals
*
VC FUNDS:
Ranked by value of deals
*
(in $M)
CVC plays vital role amid VC shift to Platform
&
Tech from Gaming
Investments by Corporate VC funds
14
Gaming
Note: some transactions do not disclose deal value but are counted for the total number of deals
CORPORATE VC:
Gaming studios
(in $M)
“COVID” ACCELERATION
“HANGOVER” FOLLOWED BY STABILIZATION &
INCREASING CO-INVESTMENT ROUNDS WITH VCs
POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH
Investments in Gaming studios in Q3’24
VC & Corporate fundraisings by targets geo
Gaming
15
Gaming vs. Platform
&
Tech
Rounds with disclosed deal value above $1m,
excl. startups involved in web3, esports, and
cash-related activities
A sharp uptick in Platform
&
Tech investments since the year’s start
Private investments in Platform
&
Tech led by VCs & PEs
Note: (*) VC&PE-led deals with disclosed deal values above $1M, excluding any blockchain- and cash/skill-based related deals
17
Gaming
TOTAL CAPITAL RAISED
*
(in $M)
“‘COVID” ACCELERATION
POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH
GROWTH
“HANGOVER” FOLLOWED BY STABILIZATION
Investments in Platform
&
Tech outpacing Gaming content
Total private investments raised
TOTAL CAPITAL RAISED
*
(in $M)
18
Gaming
TOTAL NUMBER OF ROUNDS
*
Note: (*) VC&PE-led deals with disclosed deal values above $1M, excluding any blockchain- and cash/skill-based related deals, and Epic Games rounds
Gaming Market Update
Market materials from our partners
Top-6 New Releases by Gross Sales in Q3’24
Steam sales continue growing with a +35% YoY growth in Q3’24,
powered by AA/indie publishers, while AAA sales stagnate
20
Gaming
Note: (*) total gross revenue from game sales (excluding microtransactions)
Source:
VG Insights
Steam gross full game revenue
*
and peak online user activity (in $B)
20-Aug-24
21m units
$1B sales
09-Sep-24
4.5m units
$0.2B sales
20-Sep-24
0.5m units
$21m sales
4-Sep-24
0.3m units
$20m sales
27-Sep-24
0.3m units
$19m sales
19-Sep-24
0.3m units
$16m sales
21
Gaming
The mobile market has stabilized, with Asian developers serving
as the primary source of new top releases
Mobile Market: IAP net revenue* (in $B)
Top-6 New Releases by IAP Net Revenue in Q3’24
22-Jul-24
8.4m installs
$38m Revenue
Dashboard
Naraka:
Bladepoint
COVID GROWTH
POST-COVID HANGOVER & IDFA CHALLENGES
STABILIZATION
08-Jul-24
0.5m installs
$30m Revenue
Dashboard
Lord 9
12-Jul-24
5m installs
$10m Revenue
Dashboard
Metal Slug:
Awakening
08-Aug-24
0.4m installs
$9m Revenue
Dashboard
Kingdom Top
16-Jul-24
10m installs
$12m Revenue
Dashboard
Heartopia
15-Jul-24
1m installs
$10m Revenue
Dashboard
世界启元
Civilization
Melee
Battle Arena
Life Sim
MMO
RPG
4X Strategy
Team Battler
Shooter Platformer
Note: (*) Net revenue from in-app purchases across mobile games genres;
Source:
AppMagic
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23
Appendix
Methodology & Glossary
The private data contained in this report
is based on information from sources
believed to be reliable, but we can’t
guarantee accuracy and completeness.
Sources include public media, our business
partners, 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. We do not track pure
gambling, betting, and non-gaming
blockchain
/
web3 companies.
Late-stage VC
Corporate
Early-stage VC
Fixed income
IPO, SPAC
PIPE, other
Deal Types Overview
Control
Minority
— 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
—
investments
with a lead investor being a strategic/CVCs
— IPOs
—
the process of a company going
public, including IPOs, SPACs, and direct
listings
— PIPE, other
—
private investment in public
equity, direct share issue, and other
transactions with publicly traded stock
— Fixed income
—
debt-related instrument
with fixed payments and interest payments
Deal Type Terms Glossary
Target’s Sector Overview
Hardware
Other
Cash-related
PC
&
Console
Multiplatform
Mobile
Outsourcing
VR/AR
Tech
Platform
Blockchain-powered
The information, opinions, estimates,
and forecasts contained herein
are as of the date hereof and are subject
to change. We seek to update our
research as appropriate.
Gaming
Platform
& Tech
Other
M&As
Private
Investments
Public
Offerings
VC Ratings Calculation
Typically, funds do not publicly disclose
their individual participation in financing
rounds. Therefore, we do not track the exact
investment amounts by each fund; instead,
we consider the entire round size
in our ranking calculations. Our priority lies in
the total number and value of the deals
a fund participates in while also emphasizing
the value and count of deals where the fund
takes a leading role.
Our historical datasets undergo ongoing
revisions to integrate newly gathered data
and updates from our partners.
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, or a piece of legal
or professional advice.
You agree not to copy, revise, amend, or create
a derivative work, provide it to any third party,
or commercially exploit any InvestGame
research. You shall not reproduce data in any
form or by any means without the prior written
consent of InvestGame.
We would love to thank our dear friends
at
MY.GAMES
for supporting this report.
Please note that this support did not affect
the integrity or fairness of the data and
analysis.
Digest
Patreon
24
Disclaimer
Appendix
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