ACQUISITION value of the gaming industry has hit US$19.4 bil (for 37 deals) on a year-to-date basis, according to data by Buy Shares.
The top ten acquisition value stood at US$17.68 bil or 91.89% of all the 37 deals, with the second highest acquisition being William Hill’s acquisition by Caesars (US$3.74 bil), followed by Topgolf Entertainment Group’s acquisition by Callaway Golf (US$2 bil).
In the fourth and fifth spots are Peak Games’ acquisition by Zynga (US$1.85 bil) and Jagex (US%530 mil) by Macarthur Fortune.
Embracer Group’s acquisition of Saber Interactive (US$525 mil) took the sixth spot, followed by Machine Zone’s acquisition of Applovin and Huya’s acquisition of Douyu TV at US$500 mil each.
Acco Brands’ acquisition of PowerA (US$340 mil) lies in the ninth spot, while the $192 million acquisition of Paydots by Take-Two Interactives was the tenth highest deal of the year.
“No sector is entirely immune to the global decline in mergers and acquisitions due to the pandemic. However, due to increased consumer demand in games, developers of varying size and maturity became increasingly attractive targets to acquirers and investors,” said the research report.
“Most investors were still on the lookout for the best opportunities to deploy their cash reserves,” it added.
In total, 2020 has recorded 131 gaming acquisition deals. – Nov 27, 2020
