Gaming industry sees a series of high-profile takeovers

Lifestyle

Real Estate

Team MONEYME|15 June 2022| 2-minute read

Candy crush, Fornite, or Halo?

The world of entertainment has been rocked by the development of digital platforms, streaming services, and the dominance of big tech companies. From Apple to Netflix, the film, television, and music industries have had to remain agile to keep up with ongoing changes in technology, consumption, and financing. 

But it’s the world’s biggest entertainment industry that has continued to grow in leaps and bounds, from the early days of Nintendo to the triple-mode online video game Fornite. With over two billion gamers competing around the world, the entirety of the video game industry is estimated to be worth $467 billion. 

A series of takeovers were announced at the start of 2022, shaking up the ownership landscape. In May the company that owns Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, and the PGA Tours games, Take-Two Interactive announced the $17.7 billion takeover of Zynga.  In January, Sony revealed it will buy video game maker Bungie for $5 billion. And that same month, Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, the maker of Call of Duty, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft for an astounding $95.6 billion.

Billions of levels, players, and dollars

A big motivator for the major companies in these billion-dollar deals is to control the intellectual property of games, thereby controlling what platforms, consoles, and services players can access them. Just like the fans who subscribe to Disney to watch Star Wars, players could be forced to subscribe to Microsoft’s game pass service to play World of Warcraft.

But not all mergers lead to exclusive access. When Bungie, the developer of Destiny, was bought by Sony, the studio released a statement stating that it’ll continue to create, develop and publish games independently.

As the industry continues to grow, new technology develops new games attracting new players. While industry experts aren’t yet worried about a loss of creativity, the consolidation of companies may see more players needing to spend more money to play their favourite game. 

Key takeaways:

• Desk space is not just for working from home – For children, teenagers, or adults who play video games think about where there might be room for a desk in a property.
• Video games can be played on a desk but can also be played in the living room on a console or using a VR set. If you are displaying a tv screen in an open home is there storage space for gaming equipment?

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