TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Roblox raises USD$520m (£382m) ahead of direct listing; SuperData forecasts 2% growth for 2021; and Trump administration mulling Tencent investment ban. Roblox raises USD$520m (£382m) ahead of direct listing Online gaming platform developer Roblox Corporation has announced that it has raised USD$520m (£382m) in a Series H funding round led by US investment firms Altimeter Capital and Dragonner Investment Group, with additional support from the Investment Group of [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Thunderful Group prepares for SEK750m (£65.6m) IPO; Zynga opens new Texas studio; and LILA Games raises USD$2.8m (£2.1m). Thunderful Group prepares for SEK750m (£65.6m) IPO Following on from the news earlier in the week that it has acquired Station Interactive, Swedish developer-publisher Thunderful Group has applied to list publicly on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market. The initial public offering (IPO) will consist of both [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: EVOS Esports raises USD$12m (£9.3m); Alliance Entertainment acquires GameFly; and active development ceased on StarCraft II. EVOS Esports raises USD$12m (£9.3m) Singapore-based Attention Holdings, parent company of EVOS Esports, has announced that it has raised USD$12m in a Series B funding round led by Korea Investment Partners, with support from Insignia Ventures Partners, along with new investors Mirae Asset Ventures, Woowa Brothers, and Indogen Capital. The investment will [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Roblox preparing to go public; ProbablyMonsters opens RPG studio; and Torque Esports in USD$3.15m (£2.44m) partnership with Simply Mac. Roblox preparing to go public California-based gaming platform Roblox Corporation is reportedly preparing to go public and will pursue a listing on a US stock market at a valuation of approximately USD$8bn (£6.2bn). This would double the valuation it attained at its previous funding round, a USD$150m Series G [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Take-Two Interactive to acquire Playdots for USD$192m (£146m); RektGlobal buys Fearless Media; and first India-focused video games VC firm launches. Take-Two Interactive to acquire Playdots for USD$192m (£146m) Take-Two Interactive has announced that it is set to acquire mobile developer Playdots for USD$192m (£146m), comprising of USD$90m (£68m) in cash and USD$102m (£77m) in newly issued common stock shares. The acquired New York-based studio has released three titles [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Mission Control raises USD$1.75m (£1.38m); Riot Games centralises League of Legends esports; and Voltage Entertainment USA workers take strike action. Mission Control raises USD$1.75m (£1.38m) Recreational league esports platform Mission Control has announced that it has closed a USD$1.75m (£1.38m) seed funding round led by Dundee Venture Partners and supported by M25, Cultivation Capital, and MATH Venture Partners. The investment will be used by the St. Louis, Missouri-based [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Sony to double PlayStation 5 production; Nifty Games opens Chicago studio; and Darewise Entertainment raises €3m (£2.7m). Sony to double PlayStation 5 production Sony Corp. has informed its manufacturing and logistics partners that it intends to double production of its PlayStation 5 console from approximately five to six million units by March 2021 to ten million devices by the close of the year, in response to increased consumer [...]

On Monday (1st June 2020), Zynga announced that it would acquire Istanbul-based Peak for a total consideration of USD$1.8bn (£1.4bn), marking its largest acquisition, and the largest exit by Turkish start-up, to-date. With the deal expected to close within the next quarter, TheGamingEconomy examines the implications of the deal for the San Francisco gaming giant, and how it will shape its future growth. Doubling down on match-three Ostensibly, the acquisition is in line with Zynga’s overriding business strategy in mobile gaming since [...]

As part of the recent UK budget, the government confirmed that it is pressing ahead with its somewhat controversial Digital Services Tax. As reported by the Financial times, the UK plans to raise £500m a year by applying the tax primarily to large US tech companies. It is being seen as a means to secure money in relation to allegations that many large tech outfits are not paying enough tax in the areas in which they operate, instead using low tax [...]

PlayStation is skipping on attending E3 this year, just a few months before it plans to launch the PS5. A decade or so ago, that would have seemed like a very peculiar move. E3 has long been the place to announce and launch the biggest games and gaming platforms. It is famed as a media frenzy, where the world’s press amass to collect and share all the key gaming news. Indeed, it was the very first E3 in 1995 that saw one [...]