Games and financing deals for 39 % gaming in 2024 | Drake star

Games and acquisitions (M & A) and financing in 2024 grew by 39 % to $ 27.3 billion in the value of the deal that was revealed through more than 967 transactions, according to a report he presented Drake Star Partners.

This is a glimmer of bright news at a time when revenues appeared to be stagnant companies and games More than 15,000 people have been demobilized. In fact, and GDC survey Note that in 2024, one in every 11 developer was demobilized.

Public markets have shown signs of recovery with the Drake Star Gaming Index for leading public games that grow 10.4 % for this year.

The reasons that make all this financially healthy are the main components of acquisitions, private financing and stock market assessments that have grown throughout the year, which was not the case in the weakest times.

“It was still a good year, and it is a strong year with more than $ 27 billion of the value of the deal, which increased by 39 % from 2023, and this is definitely positive,” Metzger said. “Funding has two components. One is the private, the other is a year. Companies can raise debt or raise more shares. The number is 39 % to more money that exchanges hands, and money flow in the ecosystem and then is used for an organic growth. Thus they become The remaining companies.

M & A deals

The M&A activity in 2024 witnessed a 21 % increase in the size of the deal over the past 2023, with 198.5.5 billion dollars in the disclosure value. As expected, many prominent integration and purchase deals appeared from private stock companies, including EQT acquisition of $ 2.8 billion on keywords and Buy CVC $ 1.1 billion from JAGEX.

Metzger focused on the fact that the number of integration and purchase deals has risen on the integration and purchase front, while the value of each deal was the same. The values ​​of the private financing deal increased significantly, but many of this was investing in Disney of $ 1.5 billion in epic games. Without this deal, private financing will be more on the flat side.

Other major transactions included Playtika acquisition on SuperPlay for $ 1.95 billion (Including profits) and Ambraler Group Get rid of $ 1.2 billion from Easybrain to Miniclip from Tencent.

The report said that the computer chip and the control unit remained the most active in integration and purchases with 53 transactions, followed by the mobile phone with 38 transactions, tools and tools with 32.

Private places

Although integration and purchases reflect what is happening at the large level between major companies, private investments show the health of smaller startups. This image was a little mixed.

A total of $ 4.8 billion has been raised through 711 special status deals, which reflects a 30 % increase in the total value that has been revealed, but a decrease of 8 % in the number of deals compared to 2023.

The main special financing included an EPIC round of $ 1.5 billion led by Disney, as well as a significant increase in Rond Rond, which is 350 million dollars of Infinity Reality, building a $ 110 million missile round, and AONIC round of $ 105 million. Early stage deals constitute more than 90 % of total increases. Blockchain shadow is the most active part with 250 deals, followed by the statute, tools (133) and mobile (111).

The fourth quarter was slower in terms of the number of private financing deals that were made. However, private stock companies are active in the market and there are more investors who enter games from places like the Middle East. Those who have successful exits are likely to return more money to games. In general, this Metzger makes optimistic that the money will continue to flow to the game industry.

Investors got $ 1.8 billion because they raised DNEW funds. It includes follow -up funds from A16Z ($ 600 million), Bitkraft (275 million dollars), vgames (142 million dollars), and Play project (140 million dollars), along with new funds that you launched Long time (150 million dollars) and Rum projects (150 million dollars).

Mettzger said that with regard to collecting new money, there have been low points in the past few years, and now it has become a little bounce. He said: “VGAMES in particular had the largest exit from the Playtika deal.”

The most prominent public deals included public subscription to South Korea and donation of $ 3 billion.

On the side of the public market, the Drake Star Gaming Index, which tracks the 30 best global games companies on equal basis, increased by 10.4 % for this year. He was driven by the strong performance of SEA/Garena, Dena and Konami. Meanwhile, Corsair, WeMade and Unity were the weakest performance in the indicator.

Q4 2024 Results

In the fourth quarter of 2024, there were 151 special places in gaming companies, with a total of $ 650 million. This was smaller than the previous quarter (181 in the third quarter of 2024) before the year (170 in Q4 2023). There were 47 deals in the Blockchain sector, making it the largest sector with about $ 200 million collected in the quarter.

The M&A games were also smaller in Q4, with 40 deals compared to 57 in the previous quarter and 44 in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Expectations

Drake Star Partners has very positive expectations for the 2025 game and technology market with strategic unification, private stock separation, and organizational deals for landscape formation.

With the continued evaluation of the gaming companies listed in recovery, the company expects a significant increase in the integration and purchase activity. The main buyers who must be seen include Savvy/Scopely, Tencent, Krafton, Keywords Studios/EQT, JAGEX/CVC, infinite and Sony, along with newly detailed Embraler companies as soon as they are independently inserted, such as Asmodee.

Private stock companies are expected to remain very active, as many gaming companies circulating for the public have been taken especially. Ubisoft could be among the largest candidates to get deleted in 2025, where she rented a strategic consultant, perhaps to take the private company.

With more than $ 1.8 billion of the new capital collected in the money in 2024, indicating the interest of the renewed investor, Drake Star expects a strong pipeline from seed and early stage financing, along with selected tours from mid to a period of stages.

However, there are opposite winds that make it difficult for some companies. There will be winners and losers, and Amir Skatat, a working resource champion, indicated that more than 9,800 people are likely to be lay off in the games in 2025 – that is, less than 15,000 last year, but they are still important.

“For some of the content -focused companies, it depends greatly on the sector that they focus on on your title. Ubisoft may be a unique story as not only the headlines.

As a result, Ubisoft has seen a 46 % decrease in its evaluation during 2024. This is one of the reasons why people are still expelling.

It is a mixed bag with those workers. It is clear that it is very unfortunate for those people who have been demobilized, and some of these companies may have been very large of employment in the epidemic. “I am very optimistic about the expectations for the next year, which is like a very positive feeling about technology, M&A, and technological cost subscriptions In general, it may be partially moved according to a lower regulation. It seems that it can get worse, but we hope it will improve. “

Companies often do contradictory things themselves. Meta said she would rest more than 3000 people, focusing on poor artists. But she also announced that she could invest up to $ 65 billion in artificial intelligence.

“I think artificial intelligence will already continue to develop very quickly. If you speak three years abroad, I can see that these companies may be more effective and need less people in reality.” The companies are expected to repeat faster. “

The main growth sectors are expected to include Amnesty International, Technology and Blockchain, driven by a strong recovery of the encryption market this year and support for the new American administration of digital assets.

Metzger said that with major versions such as Nintendo Switch 2 and Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025, the game industry is preparing for great growth in the participation and revenues of the players. This increase can lead to increased donations and opportunities for integration and purchases for gaming companies.

Of course, perhaps in the short or long term, there is an opportunity to infect keyboards and personal computers with tariffs, given Donald Trump’s threat to impose a customs tariff on foreign trade. If this continues for a long time, this may destroy the company’s economy.

With the recovery of public markets in 2025, Drake Star expects ready -made gaming companies for public subscription to put the advertisement this year. The company also expects the start of a wave of general subscriptions to Indian Games companies.