According to the World Games Report for the First Quarter of 2026, released by Drake Star, the industry was at a new high in the quarter, with several heavy-pound transactions, including the purchase of Warner by Paramount for $110 billion and the purchase of pupil technology by Savvy Gomes for $6 billion. XR hardware dominates private fundraising, with three transactions amounting to $100 million or more. With the expected launch of the largest game in history, the year 2026 is destined to be a landmark year in the history of game distribution.
In 2026, the Q1 game industry registered 15 months of high M & As, with 51 transactions completed and a total of over $100 billion disclosed. Mobile games dominate M&As, but the increase in total turnover is driven mainly by the purchase of the Warner Brothers by Paramount Sky Profits. Other notable transactions include the acquisition of pupil technology by Savvy Gomes at $6 billion; the acquisition of Loom Gomes majority (valued at over $1 billion); and the acquisition by NCSOFT of JustPlay ($202 million). In addition, Nazara acquired the controlling interest in Blueile Gomes, the United States and Thailand acquired the Internet-friendly share of Mattel 163, and Haveli agreed to buy Budge Studios. In the area of private fundraising, Q1 completed 106 transactions in 2026, with a total of $785 million disclosed. The three largest transactions were in the area of AR/XR hardware, namely Rayneo ($143 million), Xreal (100 million) and VITURE (100 million). Other financing rounds of concern include Ares Interact ($70 million), VAST ($50 million) and ZBD ($40 million). Over the past 12 months, Griffin Gaming, Play Ventures and Arcadia have been prominent in the area of large investments, while Impact46, Merak and ForsVC have taken the lead in the seed wheel phase. Telecommunications, Sony and Krafton dominate strategic transactions, with Arbitrum, Animoca and TBV leading in the area of block chains.
Open market transactions are led by large-scale refinancing of Light & Wonder ($2.13 billion) and Playtika ($500 million). The baby’s price has added momentum to the $400 million new bill, while LY Corp. increased Kakao Gomes’s share through equity and convertible bonds by $201 million. The Drake Star game index rose significantly before mid-2025, followed by a back-up partial increase, and finally remained almost flat at the beginning of last year. The game unit rose in the second and third quarters of 2025, followed by a reversal in the fourth quarter and faced additional pressure in the first quarter of 2026 due to the wider market/software sales. PC and host game companies and Asian distributors perform significantly better than mobile and Western game distributors. The Korean game developer, Pearl Abyss, rose by 149 per cent, largely as a result of strong performance after the sale of the Red Desert. Drake Star expects that the M & As market will remain active for the rest of the year, with a significant number of medium-sized transactions and some large transactions. As the launching date of GTA6 approaches (November 2026), the market’s enthusiasm for game shares can rise further. Other much-anticipated games include Insomniac Game, The Wolverine of Mangam and IO Interactive, 007: The Spectrum.
AI, UGC and the technology platform will continue to be at the forefront of investment, with a potential surge in AR activities. Project financing has become the main development path, as studio equity continues to face a negative windfall. At the same time, the emergence of dedicated funds focused on user access provides a new lifeline for mobile studios in the medium term that seek to accelerate growth.
