Video game investment levels drop back to pre-covid levels
After a surge of investment between 2020 and 2022, money funnelled into the video game industry from private equity sources has now dropped dramatically, back to and even below previous pre-Covid levels.
Data published by Konvoy as part of its Q3 2023 Gaming Industry Report show a sharp decline in investments following the second quarter of last year.
As noted by EA Dice senior game designer Jan David Hassel, who shared these graphs on social media, investment in gaming surged to $14.78bn in 2021, and to 14.49bn in 2022. In 2023, this has now slumped to $2.09bn — around «a seventh of the investment of each of the previous two years».
Many industry analysts have linked this sudden drop in investment with the swathes of layoffs that have affected the industry over the last 12 months.
Earlier this week, Destiny 2 developer Bungie became the latest studio to begin laying off employees, with 100 people reportedly impacted. That's approximately eight percent of its once 1200-strong workforce.
Other studios to also announce layoffs this year include Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, Fornite maker Epic Games and Sega, to name but a few.
How we got here:
There was a huge investment surge into gaming in 21/22 and we're now back to pre-covid levels.
Source: Konvoy VC https://t.co/Q5PgM79dVl pic.twitter.com/hhOjpNSQ7I
