The most expensive game company acquisitions
Not even a week after Take-Two Interactive acquired mobile game developer Zynga for $12.7 billionMicrosoft has won the title of the most expensive game acquisition in history.
The tech giant will acquire the famous game company Activision Blizzard, for $69 billion. This makes it one of the biggest players in the video game development market (which has not escaped the FTC).
These acquisitions of multi-billion game companies are quickly becoming the norm. Some of the biggest takeovers have taken place in the last three to five years.
A brief history of major game company acquisitions
Until January 2022, Tencent’s $8.6 billion purchase from game publisher Supercell was the video game industry’s biggest acquisition.
2022 completely changed that with two of the biggest acquisitions taking place in the first two weeks.
Here are the 15 most expensive game company acquisitions in history:
| Rank | Acquirer | Target | Year acquired | Transaction size ($B) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Microsoft | ActivisionBlizzard | 2022 | 68.7 |
| #2 | Interactive Take-Two | Zynga | 2022 | 12.7 |
| #3 | Tencent | Supercell (84% acquisition) | 2016 | 8.6 |
| #4 | Microsoft | ZeniMax Media | 2020 | 7.5 |
| #5 | ActivisionBlizzard | King | 2015 | 5.9 |
| #6 | ByteDance | Moonton | 2021 | 4.0 |
| #7 | sony | Bungie | 2022 | 3.6 |
| #8 | Microsoft | Mojang | 2014 | 2.5 |
| #9 | electronic arts | Glu Mobile | 2021 | 2.4 |
| #ten | OculusVR | 2014 | 2.0 | |
| #11 | Zynga | peak | 2020 | 1.8 |
| #12 | Bandai | Namco | 2005 | 1.7 |
| #13 | electronic arts | Playdemic | 2021 | 1.4 |
| #14 | Tencent | Leyou | 2020 | 1.3 |
| #15 | Tencent | Sumo Group | 2021 | 1.3 |
10 of the 15 biggest game company acquisitions have taken place in the past three years.
Microsoft bets a billion dollars on video games
Microsoft’s announcement to acquire Activision Blizzard is the clearest sign yet of the company’s ambitions to become a gaming giant.
This merger would make Microsoft the third largest global video game company by revenue and the publisher behind games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.
The Activision Blizzard acquisition wasn’t the only major takeover Microsoft had ever made. Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media in 2020 to $7.5 billionand Minecraft creator Mojang Studios for $2.5 billion in 2014.
Here are all the game companies and studios that Microsoft currently owns:
Part of the reason Microsoft has made such massive acquisitions is to catch up and better compete in the gaming market. Sales of their Xbox console also fared relatively poorly compared to PlayStation devices.
Sony’s announcement to buy destiny Creator Bungie could be their attempt to neutralize Microsoft’s recent acquisitions, and it remains to be seen how that will pan out.
The future of gaming and new acquisitions
As mobile game revenues skyrocket, companies are trying to cash in on their relevance in the online social space. Even in the midst of a pandemic, approximately 1,500 mergers and acquisitions worth $43 billion took place in 2020.
With the appearance of new changes in the field of user experience, the game is now inextricably linked with the current trend of the metaverse. As online gaming and streaming become mainstream, we could experience gaming in a completely new and immersive way.
As big tech companies continue to jump into the game to diversify their revenue streams, we could see more acquisitions and consolidations on the horizon.
