Last year was a big year for gaming as the video-game industry attracted investments reaching $127 billion—marking a significant jump from 2021.
Key Details
- Video-game deals reached $127 billion in 2022 across 1,252 investments, up from 1,018 investments in 2021, marking significant growth for the sector, according to a report by Drake Star Partners.
- The investments were focused on console, PC, and mobile gaming companies, with around $4 billion being put into blockchain gaming.
- Despite the big growth in the gaming sector, investors are still turning away from esports as concerns grow that esports aren’t profitable, continuing a fall in the industry.
Why it’s news
While investments in many areas were down last year, the gaming industry saw a rapid increase—obtaining billions of investments last year with expectations that the industry could be worth $321 billion by 2026, according to a PwC report.
The COVID-19 lockdown caused many people to flock to gaming systems while staying indoors for many months. Research found that around 82% of global consumers played video games and watched video game content during the lockdown.
Since the pandemic, gaming has exploded and isn’t looking to slow down anytime soon, with 2022 being a huge year for the sector. Video game deals reached $127 billion in 2022 across 1,252 investments, up from 1,018 investments in 2021, according to a report by Drake Star Partners.
Microsoft made one of the biggest gaming deals of 2022 as the company made a $69 billion bid for Activision Blizzard, but the deal has yet to be closed due to regulatory issues.
Drake Star Partners are predicting this year to be a big year for gaming as more companies invest money into the sector, especially due to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence.
The first quarter of 2023 has been slow thus far, but it is expected to pick up as the year continues and more advancements emerge.