To learn more about what caused this golden age of acquisitions, I spoke with Omdia’s principal analyst for games tech, Liam Deane, for more insight.ĭeane tells Digital Trends that “increasing development and marketing costs have made it harder for medium-sized publishers to compete with the biggest players” in the AAA space, so acquiring or merging with other studios gives them a better chance to compete with the big dogs. The 2020s have contained a massive boom where companies like ZeniMax Media, Zynga, Rovio, and Bungie all got acquired. Microsoft frequently invested in the game industry, peaking quantity-wise with the announcement of six studio acquisitions throughout 2018.

But over the last decade, as gaming has become much more accepted and relevant in the mainstream, the amount of deals and prices attached to them have only increased. That goes back to 1978, when Atari sold itself to Warner Communications. As with any industry, mergers and acquisitions have always been part of the game industry.

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