Drake Star: Q3 2025 Was A "Landmark Quarter" for Gaming M&A

According to Drake Star, the third quarter of 2025 was a landmark quarter for gaming M&A. Activity reached a yearly high with EA's $55 billion acquisition, private financing picked up for the first time in six quarters, and top Western gaming stocks performed well.

Global technology investment bank Drake Star has released its latest Global Gaming Report, analysing the third quarter of 2025 (July to September). The report is available here.

The consortium of Saudi Arabia's PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners' acquisition of Electronic Arts for $55 billion made history as the largest ever leveraged buyout. Overall gaming M&A activity increased to 50 deals, marking the highest count in four quarters. Notable transactions included Aonic's $250 million acquisition of Prime Insights, Krafton's $96 million purchase of Eleventh Hour Games (Last Epoch), DoubleDown's $76 million deal for WHOW Games and Impact46's $53 million buyout of Kammelna.

Drake Star: "After a year-long slowdown, Q3'25 saw a recovery with 115 private financing rounds, the first increase since Q1'24. Notable rounds included Lingokids ($120M), Good Job Games ($60M), Appcharge ($58M), Million Victories ($40M), Kong Studio ($36M), and Distinct Possibility Studios ($31M). Interest in growth financings for mobile studios surged again in Q3, with five of the largest rounds going to mobile game developers."

With regard to investments, the global technology investment bank writes: "Most active investors over the past year included Bitkraft, Play Ventures, and Griffin Gaming Partners among larger funds, while Impact46, 1AM Gaming, and 1UP Ventures were the leading seed-stage investors. On the strategic side, Tencent, Krafton, and Smilegate drove the most activity, while Animoca, Spartan, and Arbitrum Gaming Ventures were the most active players in blockchain gaming."

Western public gaming equities performed well in Q3 of 2025, with the Drake Star Western Gaming Index rising by 31.3% over the course of the year. This is an equal-weighted index of the 35 largest gaming companies listed on their home stock exchange, each with a market capitalisation of around $1 billion or more. The top performers were Roblox (+136.9%), Unity (+77.9%) and Everplay (+75.0%). The broader Drake Star Index, which tracks the top 35 global public gaming companies, has risen by 23.7% year to date (YTD), outperforming the 14.3% gain of the S&P 500.

Drake Star provides the following outlook: "The rebound in public gaming equities is paving the way for a surge in gaming M&A through 2026, as strategics are seizing the opportunity to capitalize on higher valuations and fuel bold inorganic growth to sustain investor momentum. PE momentum in gaming shows no signs of slowing, with major funds eyeing public gaming companies for take-privates and top private studios becoming prime acquisition targets for growth-focused investors. With the resurgence of growth financing for mobile game studios in Q3'25, we are optimistic that funding activity across the gaming sector will continue gaining momentum in the coming quarters. AI and tools continue to be hot sectors. We expect Coffee Stain Group to complete its IPO following the spin-off from Embracer by year-end and remain optimistic about the prospects for a strong Discord listing in 2026."

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