EA has been a video game studio for over 25 years and is the third largest gaming company in the world. With its acquisition of Respawn Entertainment, it now owns four studios and more than 50 games.
The video game acquisitions are a big part of video game development. In the last few years, there have been many large acquisitions in the industry. EA has been one of the biggest acquirers of all time.
Over the last decade, large corporations have purchased smaller game development firms. As a result, some of the world’s largest video game firms have acquired classic games. For these franchisees, this meant more resources, more possibilities, and more revenues. However, it may also result in unpleasant outcomes, such as franchises disappearing and games being stuck in limbo. The most well-known of these purchases is Electronic Arts’ purchase of Bioware in 2007, which produced both excellent games and its fair number of flops.
BusinessFinancing.co.uk conducted a recent research that totaled all video game acquisitions in history and identified the largest acquirers and acquisitions. They discovered that the year 2020 witnessed the most significant acquisitions in the history of the video game business. From then, the gaming environment has permanently altered, for better or worse. With these recent purchases, we take a look back at the most notable acquisitions in the video game business. The top three video game studio acquirers of all time are shown below, with Electronic Arts coming in third.
CODEEMASTERS, BIOWARE, RESPAWN, POPCAP – #3 Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts is one of the video gaming industry’s oldest companies. The video game business has been operating for nearly four decades, having been founded in 1982. They’ve been an industry leader for a long time, and they’re still one of the most powerful gaming companies today.
EA’s success isn’t completely due to their own efforts. That is, if we consider the assets that independent game developers have amassed through time to be “not completely their own.” Electronic Arts has purchased a number of companies throughout the years, including DICE in 2006, Respawn Entertainment in 2014, Bioware in 2007, and, most recently, Codemasters this year. Electronic Arts acquired the publishing rights to popular brands such as Plants vs. Zombies, DIRT, F1, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Titanfall, to mention a few. Electronic Arts’ first purchase was of the now-defunct Origin Masters, creators of Ultima and Wing Commander, in 1992.
Electronic Arts’ purchases have a cumulative estimated worth of $7.8 billion over the last three decades.
ZeniMax Media, Mojang Studios, and Rare, Inc. are all part of Microsoft.
Microsoft is virtually associated with gaming now, although it was never a part of the industry to begin with. Microsoft, in fact, may be considered a latecomer to the gaming business, having launched the Xbox in the early 2000s. Since then, Microsoft has risen to become one of the top three console manufacturers, with the Xbox Series X being the latest in a long series of successful console iterations.
Microsoft, like Electronic Arts, wanted to expand their presence in the video game business by purchasing smaller companies. Rare and Mojang Studios would be acquired by Microsoft, with the latter proving to be one of their most profitable purchases of all time due to Minecraft. Microsoft recently purchased ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, the makers of the massively popular Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.
While things are looking better for Microsoft’s Bethesda purchase, the company has yet to make a profit. The deal is one of the most significant in history, and Bethesda will need to sell a lot of their titles in the near future to make it worthwhile. The entire worth of Microsoft’s purchases is estimated to be $11 billion.
Riot Games, Supercell, and Leyou are all part of Tencent.
Last but not least, there’s Tencent, the Chinese behemoth. Because of their huge investments in mobile gaming, the gaming business has become associated with mobile games. However, just three acquisitions account for the majority of its value: Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends and VALORANT, Supercell, the maker of Clash Royale, and Leyou (Samurai Shodown). When Telltale Games went bankrupt, Leyou’s partner LCG Entertainment bought the company’s assets and took up the development.
Tencent is now the world’s largest acquirer in the video gaming business. Tencent also does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Tencent is the newest company, having been established in 1998, compared to Microsoft and Electronic Arts. Tencent just began really entering the gaming business in 2008, but its leaders quickly recognized how profitable the industry is and have been all-in ever since. Tencent is the largest spender in the video game business today, with an estimated worth of $11.5 billion, and it’s only going to become bigger as the company seeks to acquire additional studios both in China and abroad.
The 3 Biggest Video Game Studio Acquirors of All Time is a blog post that talks about the 3 biggest video game studio acquirors of all time. EA was the third company on the list, and it acquired Bioware in 2007. Reference: epic games.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the biggest gaming acquisition in history?
The acquisition of Atari by Hasbro in 1984 for $3.38 billion is the largest gaming acquisition in history.
What is the biggest video game company in the world?
The biggest video game company in the world is Nintendo.
What is the biggest in game purchase?
The biggest in-game purchase is the $39.99 DLC pack, which includes four new songs and a new outfit for Beat Saber.
Related Tags
- video game mergers and acquisitions
- gaming acquisitions 2021
- richest gaming company 2020
