2022 Was The Second-Greatest 12 months Ever For Gaming Funding, Mergers, and Acquisitions, And 2023 Might Be Even Higher

What had been the large offers of 2022? Of the transactions included within the DDM’s full report, a few of the largest had been Take-Two Interactive’s $12.7 billion buy of Farmville developer Zynga, Unity’s $4.4 billion merger with monetization and distribution app firm ironsource, and Sony’s $3.6 billion buy of Future 2 dev Bungie.

The place did the trade expertise issues final 12 months? 2022’s totals may have been even higher the report argues, however the main falloff within the crypto market, excessive rates of interest, inflation, and issues a few potential recession had some buyers feeling cautious.

What about subsequent 12 months? DDM’s optimistic outlook for 2023 hinges to a serious diploma on the results of Microsoft’s hopeful acquisition of gaming big Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. That will be the most important gaming deal in historical past and would beat most years’ cumulative funding and M&A totals all by itself.

Is the results of that merger in query? The acquisition appears removed from a certain factor at this level. Within the U.S., the Federal Commerce Fee sued to forestall the deal. Within the U.Okay., the Competitors and Markets Authority claimed that the deal would threaten competitors within the gaming market and be dangerous for players. Different European governments are additionally skeptical concerning the deal, and it appears like there might be a protracted method to go earlier than any decision is discovered.

“However, DDM believes 2023 is shaping to be one other good 12 months for gaming investments, acquisitions, and IPOs, however trade development shall be hampered till macroeconomic pressures ease,” claims the report.