It has been proved that, among others, the gaming industry has entered into a completely new era being funded by revenues and large investments. As we know, venture capital represents one of the main ways to fund companies privately by way of equity capital.
In the same way, the industry has moved beyond mobile to large multiplayer gaming platforms such as PUBG, Fortnite, and the world of Warcraft while PlayStation, Amazon, Google Play Store, and the App Store have been offering cloud-based subscription services. For the latest product reviews in Gaming have a look at hotrate.com.
This sector is still a hub of revenue and great deals. Some epic ones like the world of Warcraft require almost hundreds or thousands people for their creation and maintenance. And today, more than 6 million people worldwide have signed up for the quest, killing beasts, searching out for the loots, and having fun with their friends and strangers.
The rapid growth in the gaming sector has attracted an abundance of new and wealthy companies and a broader base of investors. The market has expanded more extensively than music and video during 2020 even though the second quarter of the year witnessed a steep decline in investments and acquisitions compared to the first quarter. Anyways, the figures highlight the vibrant and dynamic growth triggered by the reliance on video games during the coronavirus catastrophe. There were over 100 deals tracked throughout the period.
In amount terms, the third period will be mainly highlighted by the deal which saw Epic Games, the Cary, N.C.-based interactive entertainment company, raising $1.78 billion in primary and secondary funding in a round that valued it at $17.3 billion. The funding included a previously announced $250 million strategic investment from Sony Corporation, and other notable backers such as Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., David Tepper, and existing investors KKR and Smash Ventures.
The same Epic has just led the $15m round of funding of Manticore Games, a San Mateo, Calif.-based gaming developer and operator of Core, an endless universe of games to play and worlds to explore designed by a global community of creators.
Some days ago, Leslie Benzies, the former President of Rockstar, raised approx. $41.1m USD for his Grand Theft Auto-rivalling open-world video game which is called Everywhere.
In addition, two weeks ago social gaming startup Bunch raised $20M in Series A funding.