Q2 gaming M&A deal value rises to $6.2B thanks to Scopely, Rovio | Drake Star
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According to Drake Star’s Global Gaming Market Report for Q2 2023, the gaming industry continues to trend towards early stage funding and M&A transactions. While the report details modest declines in private financing, financing activity in general still healthy according to Michael Metzger, partner at Drake Star.
“There are more gaming investors out there than ever,” Metzger said in an interview with GamesBeat. “Everybody’s still more selective than last year or the specifically the year before, but the number of funds focused on the sector is a positive indication of the opportunities.”
In Q2 2023, Drake Star recorded 196 private funding deals totaling $663 million in disclosed value. The number of deals declined by 7% while disclosed deal value fell by nearly 50% compared to Q1.
Private funding is largely being funneled into early stage companies. Over 80% of Q2’s closed deals went to early stage start ups. Similarly, over 50% of disclosed funding went to these companies.
“If you look at any VC investments over the last quarters, there are much fewer late stage investments and the number of investments went down. That has to do with general uncertainty about a recession both within and outside of gaming,” Metzger said. “The bars are just higher versus when there was total boom year.”
According to Drake Star, Bitkraft Ventures led the pack among VC funds with 15 closed deals in the first half of 2023. Andreessen Horowitz, PLAY Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners and Makers Fund rounded out the top five funds focused on early to late stage start ups.
While the number of M&A deals in Q2 remained relatively flat
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