Gaming industry faces record-breaking 2022

According to investment banking firm Drake Star Partners, 2022 might become a record year for the gaming sector, with deals, financing, and IPOs surpassing $150 billion. 

The estimate is based on just the two biggest acquisitions this year so far, with Microsoft pitching $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard and Take Two’s $12.7 billion bid for Zynga. The combined value of those two deals alone already rivals 2020’s yearly record, which took into account over 1,000 deals. And the figures in 2021 were already nearly three times higher than in 2020.

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The pandemic has played a huge role in the rising interest in the industry, as many people took to gaming while under lockdown. But once governments started lifting restrictions and people were once again out of the house, a large number also turned to mobile gaming.

With so much interest, the industry is now consolidating, as companies are embracing both sides of the gaming world – both desktop and mobile – and in many cases buying out the competition for huge sums of cash.

While Microsoft and Take-Two Interactive have already placed their bets on the near future, big names such as Amazon and Netflix are yet to make a move. However, it is expected that they will also join the fray this year, along with Asian companies like Tencent, Netease, and Sony, making some hefty investments into the growing industry.

Another big player right now is the Facebook (now Meta Platforms) ‘metaverse’, which has spearheaded the move towards an online world with its own digital social economy, where people are connected through modern technologies such as augmented or virtual reality.