Gaming M&A Trends in 2024: A Review

Key M&A trends during the period

The Embracer Group has continued to contribute to M&A activity through its programme of divestments, and is now entering the final phase of its restructuring. In addition to its sale of Saber Interactive and Gearbox Entertainment earlier this year, the developer has split into three separate public companies, with Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends being retained as part of the core group, Asmodee Group having been spun-off and relisted on Nasdaq Stockholm during early 2025, and plans for Coffee Stain & Friends to be separately listed.²

As the constituent companies have distinct businesses (ranging from board games to console and mobile development), the split is intended to enable them to offer more differentiated equity stories and to focus on executing their respective core strategies.

The value of strategic synergy has remained a key driver of headline M&A deals - for example, on the other side of the deal-table from Embracer:

• Take-Two’s acquisition of Gearbox Entertainment for US$460m is supported by the long-term benefits of obtaining Gearbox’s development and IP resources. 
• Nintendo’s acquisition of Shiver Entertainment, a studio known for porting games to the Switch console, is aimed at centralising the porting pipeline. 
• Tencent-owned Miniclip’s acquisition of EasyBrain for US$1.2bn expanded Miniclip’s mobile games offering.

Private equity houses have played an active role during the period, accounting for US$3.9bn of the aggregate US$10.5bn M&A deal value, one such significant transaction being EQT’s £1.2bn recommended cash acquisition of AIM-listed Keywords Studios (a provider of services for developers including game art creation, marketing and testing) announced in July.³

It is anticipated that private equity actors will continue to deploy dry powder into the sector through 2025, including through public-to-private transactions, due to bullish industry sentiment supported by reliable revenue models, scope for innovation and cross-border market access.

Acquisitive gaming companies have continued to expand their strategic portfolios, with structured consideration becoming increasingly common:

• Modern Times Group acquired the “Raid Shadow Legends” developer Plarium to leverage its evergreen IP, organic growth potential and live operations expertise in a deal valued at US$620m, with a further US$20m of deferred consideration and a stretch earn-out target of up to US$170m.⁴
• The mobile game pioneer Playtika, with a view to acquiring expertise and successful titles, also acquired SuperPlay for US$700m, and additional contingent consideration of up to US$1.25bn based on financial performance over the next three years.⁵

IPO activity during 2024 has shown signs of recovery, indicating future potential for public gaming listings. For example, from a consumer tech and broader public markets perspective, H1 2024 saw the successful IPO of online forum aggregator, Reddit, on the New York Stock Exchange.⁶ And Shift Up, the studio behind titles Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Stellar Blade, successfully listed on the Korea Exchange in July at a 3.48 trillion won (circa. US$2.6bn) valuation.⁷ Looking ahead, analysts have predicted that gaming, and gaming adjacent companies such as Discord, may target public listings in the short to medium term.⁸

What have gamers been playing?

Beyond the award-winning new releases of Baldur’s Gate 3, Venba and Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, a recent study by Newzoo indicated gamers favouring older titles with the ten most-played games of 2023 released, on average, seven years ago and sharing traits such as variable gameplay loops (which result in a new user experience on each playthrough) or vast, immersive worlds which can take hundreds of hours to fully explore.⁹

The game-as-a-platform model has also shown resilience among gamers as Fortnite and Roblox continue to attract a recurrent player base, and provide their developers with increased incentives.¹⁰

Another factor supporting the popularity of older titles has been the release of cross-IP properties, such as the Emmy Award winning Fallout TV show. Following the show’s launch in 2024, reaching 100m viewers, gamers re-engaged with the Fallout IP, reaching a peak of 5m players in a single day despite the last mainline release coming out almost a decade ago.¹¹

However, noting the critical and financial challenges faced by Borderlands, it remains to be seen whether upcoming and recent releases of films and TV shows such as Warhammer, Tomb Raider and the second season of the Last of Us will have a similar impact.

Predictions for 2025

As anticipated, 2024 showed sustained M&A activity. Looking ahead, strategic acquisitions by private equity houses and TMT conglomerates are likely to continue, and, subject to macro-economic conditions, tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty, there is a chance that gaming IPOs may also make a comeback. 

Activity in 2025 as at the date of publication has demonstrated continued confidence in the sector, with Scopely’s US$3.5bn acquisition of a selection of Niantic’s app portfolio, and the agreement by Tencent to invest €1.2bn in a spin-off subsidiary of Ubisoft, aimed at driving the development of Ubisoft’s premier titles.¹² However, given recent developments in global trade policies, it remains to be seen whether this sentiment will be impacted during the remainder of 2025.

The release of the Nintendo Switch 2 is also anticipated to increase consumer spend, and may lead to further M&A activity.

Want more information?

For more information about gaming, see:

• State of play: The dawn of a new digital landscape for gaming companies.
• Gaming and law: What businesses need to know.