Following healthy M&A activity in Q2 with over $6B in disclosed deal value and continued recovery in the public markets, Q3 started on a positive note with the closing of the Savvy / Scopely deal and the US court ruling in favor of the Microsoft / Activision deal. We expect a steady increase in M&A activity in the second half of this year.

Download the Drake Star Global Gaming Report Q2 2023 analyzing the second quarter and first half of 2023 for Gaming and Esports and outlining what to expect for the rest of the year. Highlights include: 

• With over $6B in disclosed deal value, Q2 saw healthy M&A activity beginning with Savvy Gaming’s acquisition of Scopely to enter mobile gaming / publishing space and SEGA announcing the acquisition of Rovio. M&A deal value increased significantly in Q2 over Q1.
  
  

• Public markets continued to recover with Drake Star Gaming Index rising 15% during the first half of the year, closely mirroring the S&P 500 index, while the VanEck Video Game Tech ETF was up over 30%. Embracer announced a broader restructuring following a significant valuation drop in Q2.
  
  

• There were 196 announced private financings with $700M in announced value in Q2, a slight decline from Q1. Over 80% of the financings were for early-stage companies and Investments in Blockchain saw an uptick in Q2 (52 deals vs 42 in Q1), while mobile and PC/Console remained the other top categories.
  
  

• BITKRAFT led the VC league table for the first half of the year, followed by Andreessen Horowitz, Griffin Gaming, Makers Fund and Play Ventures.
  
  

2023 Outlook

• Q3 started on a positive note with the closing of the Savvy Gaming / Scopely deal, U.S. court ruling in favor of the Microsoft / Activision deal, and Goldman Sachs along with General Atlantic and Lego acquiring Kahoot, an educational games platform for $1.7B in a take private deal.
  
  
• We expect a steady increase in M&A deal activity in the second half of the year. Savvy Gaming continues to be very active on acquisitions as well as minority investments in public companies (e.g. EA). Savvy might acquire a large PC / console publisher and we anticipate Scopely to be very active. Embracer will likely divest some of its studios while acquiring others.
  
  

• As public markets continue to recover, several IPO ready gaming companies have started exploring IPOs again. At the same time, there is increasing interest from PE firms to acquire publicly traded gaming companies. Playtika is rumored to be one such candidate.
  
  

• While a large pool of capital was raised by gaming / blockchain funds last year, investors have been cautious this year. We expect a healthy number of early-stage rounds and significantly less later stage rounds. AI and tools continue to be hot segments.