Gaming M&A rose for a fourth consecutive quarter in Q3 2024, according to Drake Star: the firm counted 56 announced deals, 70% more than in Q3 2023, with $2.5 billion in disclosed deal value. The count and value are separate measures; not every deal had a disclosed price.
What “fourth straight quarter” means
Drake Star’s October 24, 2024 Global Gaming Report for Q3 2024 describes four consecutive quarterly increases in the number of gaming M&A deals. Its Q3 tally was 56 announced deals, and the firm reported that count was 70% higher than in Q3 2023. The accompanying $2.5 billion figure is disclosed deal value, not a complete valuation for all 56 transactions.
Drake Star’s broader deal-count methodology includes announced and/or closed M&A, private placements, IPOs, SPACs and public financing deals. Its public-markets category comprises IPOs, SPACs and public financings. Those definitions matter when comparing its overall deal activity with M&A alone. The firm credits Capital IQ, PitchBook and DSP Research as inputs to its report.
Which acquisitions stood out?
Playtika’s purchase of SuperPlay
The quarter’s largest listed transaction was Playtika’s acquisition of SuperPlay. Drake Star valued it at $700 million at close, or up to $1.95 billion including earn-out.
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Other named transactions
Drake Star also listed acquisitions involving Tencent and Aojue Digital; Warner Bros. Discovery and Player First; Krafton and Tango Gameworks; Capcom and Minimum Studios; Keywords and Wushu Studios; Nazara and Fusebox and Deltias Gaming; and Infinite Reality and LandVault. The report identifies these as notable deals, but the supplied figures do not establish transaction values for each one.
How gaming companies were financed
Private financing reached $1.1 billion across 181 deals in Q3 2024. That total sat alongside a difficult environment for growth-stage studio funding: Drake Star said financing remained challenging for those companies, even as activity was concentrated earlier in the company lifecycle.
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- More than 90% of investors’ activity went to seed and early-stage companies.
- Blockchain gaming represented about 32% of investments.
- Platform and tools represented about 23%.
These percentages describe the report’s stated investment distribution; they should not be read as dollar shares or as a breakdown of the $1.1 billion total.
What public markets added to the picture
Drake Star reported that its Gaming Index was up 10.2% in the first nine months of 2024. That index performance is market context, distinct from the count or disclosed value of Q3 M&A deals.
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What Drake Star expected next—and what it does not establish
In October 2024, Drake Star forecast that M&A would strengthen through the rest of 2024 and into 2025, citing lower interest rates and a gradual recovery in public gaming markets. That was the firm’s outlook at the time, not evidence here of what later happened or a current market forecast.
In contemporaneous GamesBeat coverage dated October 24, 2024, Drake Star Partners partner Michael Metzger said: “This ongoing recovery in valuations is likely to further stimulate M&A activity in the future.” The statement reflected the same period’s expectations, rather than a guarantee about subsequent deal activity. GamesBeat’s report includes the quotation.
Quick Recap
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