Big games from gaming companies: what is the race for the leaders leading to?
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2025 6:39 am
The gaming industry has grown exponentially over the past decade, and with it the competition for revenue. The biggest players are investing in popular developers and well-known games to keep players on their side.
Newzoo estimates that the video game industry's revenue in 2021 was nigeria number data over $180 billion. For comparison, the "combined global theatrical and home/mobile entertainment market" was about $80 billion in 2020 .
Sony's plan to buy Destiny developer Bungie is the latest step in an escalating race among video game industry leaders to outdo rivals in the fight for studios, franchises and player time.
In the last few years, the acquisition race has been gaining momentum: in 2021 alone, more than 250 gaming deals worth over $38 billion were concluded.
The two biggest gaming acquisitions of all time took place last month: Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two acquired mobile giant Zynga for $12 billion, and Microsoft plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
This wholesale acquisition of studios is related to content and the ability to place this content, exclusively or not, on different platforms.
Microsoft's Game Pass, a Netflix-like gaming subscription service for Xbox and PC, recently hit 25 million subscribers, and Axios' Steven Totilo, a game industry columnist, says the service is central to the company's long-term strategy.
Sony is developing its own Game Pass competitor, and Bungie games will likely appear there.
Both Microsoft and Sony announced deals, ensuring that popular games would not become exclusives right away.
But Sony has built a huge fan base for blockbusters that are released only on PlayStation, and Microsoft has announced that the game from recently acquired developer Bethesda Softworks will only appear on Xbox, PC and Game Pass.
It's not just console manufacturers who are buying up. It's also happening with big tech companies trying to break into the gaming business using existing platforms.
Netflix bought the Night School studio last year.
Google bought the Triple A studio in 2019 for its Stadia service trial.
Newzoo estimates that the video game industry's revenue in 2021 was nigeria number data over $180 billion. For comparison, the "combined global theatrical and home/mobile entertainment market" was about $80 billion in 2020 .
Sony's plan to buy Destiny developer Bungie is the latest step in an escalating race among video game industry leaders to outdo rivals in the fight for studios, franchises and player time.
In the last few years, the acquisition race has been gaining momentum: in 2021 alone, more than 250 gaming deals worth over $38 billion were concluded.
The two biggest gaming acquisitions of all time took place last month: Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two acquired mobile giant Zynga for $12 billion, and Microsoft plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
This wholesale acquisition of studios is related to content and the ability to place this content, exclusively or not, on different platforms.
Microsoft's Game Pass, a Netflix-like gaming subscription service for Xbox and PC, recently hit 25 million subscribers, and Axios' Steven Totilo, a game industry columnist, says the service is central to the company's long-term strategy.
Sony is developing its own Game Pass competitor, and Bungie games will likely appear there.
Both Microsoft and Sony announced deals, ensuring that popular games would not become exclusives right away.
But Sony has built a huge fan base for blockbusters that are released only on PlayStation, and Microsoft has announced that the game from recently acquired developer Bethesda Softworks will only appear on Xbox, PC and Game Pass.
It's not just console manufacturers who are buying up. It's also happening with big tech companies trying to break into the gaming business using existing platforms.
Netflix bought the Night School studio last year.
Google bought the Triple A studio in 2019 for its Stadia service trial.