2022 to be Fueled by 2021 — The Largest Year Ever for Investments/M&As, Q4’s Blockchain Investments Change the Games Funding Landscape

Q4 2021 and Annual Games Investment Review Report Available

^{By the DDM Data & Research Team}

We were impressed by 2020. We are blown away by 2021.

The previous record year, 2020, was eye-popping at its time with $13.2 billion in investments and $11.3 billion in M&As across more than 600 deals. 2021 closed out with record-breaking value and volume: 1090 investment and M&A transactions, $38.5 billion in investments, and $37.6 billion in M&A disclosed deals. Overall, 2021 was nearly twice the transaction volume and three-times the investment and M&A values over 2020. 2021 was the highest year to date across the value and volume of game industry investments, M&As, and IPOs—the biggest year for the gaming industry!

This momentum is carrying forward into 2022, with several blockbuster M&A announcements already in Q1, such as Microsoft’s upcoming $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, Take-Two’s $12.7 billion purchase of Zynga, and Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie. All these deals are subject to regulatory approval, and due to their sheer size and complexity may not close until the last half of 2022 or the beginning of 2023. Bolstered by record pandemic revenues, accelerated by record-levels of consolidation, no acquisition target seems to be too large and 2022 is off to a stunning start.

In Q4 there were 321 disclosed transactions including 243 investments worth $3.9 billion and 78 M&As with disclosed values over $2.1 billion. Though down from Q3 where we tracked over 230 total transactions worth nearly $9.0 billion in investments and $6.4 billion in M&A disclosed deals, Q4 set new records with the highest quarterly volume of transactions over the past decade and the highest value for a fourth quarter in any year. Blockchain gaming drove more than half the activity volume for the quarter, turning Q4 into a milestone on its own and capping off a spectacular year.

To read more and enjoy our free Q4 2021 report, click here.

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The DDM Games Investment Review Q4 2021 report is now available for purchase: $399 per single quarter or $999 for an annual subscription. In addition to our industry forecast, the report contains a complete list of investment/M&A transactions from the quarter as well as expanded lists of the quarter’s top transactions and investors. For more information about our quarterly reports or the DDM Games Investment Review, visit www.ddmgamesinvestmentreview.com or email data@ddmagents.com.

Follow the DDM Games Investment Review on Twitter at @gamesinvestment.