Games Investments Still Booming: Q1 2022 Busiest Q1 on Record, Fueled by Blockchain
Q1 2022 Games Investment Review Report Available
By Kay Bros with Peggy Twardowski
We’re having trouble coming up with new superlatives for a record-breaking quarter. Q1 2022 saw 243 transactions worth nearly $3.5 billion in disclosed deals, the highest volume of transactions we’ve ever seen for a first quarter and matching the all-time volume record of 243 investments last quarter. Blockchain has once again fueled this growth, contributing over half the investment volume with a focus on early-stage rounds from non-traditional gaming investors. While we haven’t seen many blockchain games mergers and acquisitions yet, mergers and acquisitions generally racked up impressive numbers with four transactions over a billion dollars, and $7.9 billion total over 84 transactions. Across disclosed investments, mergers, and acquisitions, the industry raised just under $11.4 billion in Q1 2022.
Special Statement on Methodology
As readers may have seen already, Q1 2022 has been reported for breaking records with a total exceeding $90 billion. This contrasts sharply with our announced $11.4 billion and underlines an important aspect of our methodology: we do not include deals in the quarter announced but instead in the quarter the investment or acquisition closes. This includes behemoths like the pending $12.7 billion Zynga acquisition by Take-Two Interactive and the $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, both of which need to clear regulatory approval. This methodology has been used consistently with our data for 13 years and it ensures that we are measuring actual activity instead of potential activity.
As the Microsoft deal has shown, companies like Activision Blizzard once thought too large for acquisition are now on the table. If this deal clears regulatory hurdles, 2022 or 2023 could become a historic year as Activision Blizzard’s value alone is 1.8x the total $37.6 billion M&A value of 2021, which was the biggest year for gaming deals so far. Keep an eye on our reporting to see the accounting of completed deals and you’ll know if and when our industry achieves these amazing landmarks.
For another clarification on process, with SPACs we consider the investment value to be what was raised in the transaction, not the company valuation afterward. This is consistent with how we track investment data, where we track the money raised in the transaction and, separately, its effect on the company’s overall enterprise value.
The exclusion of these potential deals resulted in a large difference between our quarterly total and other firms, but our methodology gives a clearer picture of the money deployed in the last quarter, providing valuable data consistency for companies evaluating game industry investment and acquisitions.
To read more and enjoy our free Q1 2022 report, click here.
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The DDM Games Investment Review Q1 2022 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.
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