Top 10 Biggest Acquisitions in Gaming History

Though many hardcore gamers will deride the mobile market, the simple fact is that not only are many mobile games fun, but they’re lucrative as well. Zynga was already a titan of the mobile game industry in 2020, but wanted to increase its market share by putting in an offer to buy the Turkish company Peak Games. Peak Games is responsible for titles like “Toon Blast” and “Toy Blast”, both puzzlers loaded with microtransactions that make them immensely valuable, and worth the $1.8 billion Zynga paid. However, the acquisition was criticized because it essentially took a promising, Turkish start-up out of the country and directed its revenue to the US instead.

For years, the Oculus Rift was a promising but very expensive piece of equipment funded by a wildly successful Kickstarter. But in 2014, Facebook decided to acquire the start-up for $2 billion, and was able to fund the venture enough that Oculus hardware finally entered the consumer market. Today, Oculus dominates in the VR space, even against the comparably cheaper PSVR, and the price of a unit has come down drastically. Facebook’s foray into VR hasn’t ended there, either; in 2021 it was announced that it would be changing its name to “Meta” as part of its endeavors to actually create the VR “metaverse” of cyberpunk fiction, all hinging on the widespread adoption of Oculus hardware.

It’s long had a reputation not only as a company that doesn’t operate in the interest of its consumers, but with a habit of buying up game companies and then closing them down – with the most infamous example being Visceral Games. In 2021, EA made the biggest acquisition yet in its career, buying Glu Mobile, another mobile game publisher, for a cool $2.4 billion. Glu Mobile is responsible for a handful of games that you may have heard of, most notably “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” where you, too, can become an influencer famous for being famous. It makes sense since EA has always had an interest in both lifestyle games and microtransactions.

The first costly Microsoft acquisition of many, for a while this was the largest video game acquisition yet. The deal was to acquire Mojang, the developer of “Minecraft”, for $2.5 billion. Considering the enduring popularity of “Minecraft”, it’s safe to say that this was a good investment on Microsoft’s part. Since acquiring the company, Microsoft has made “Minecraft” widely available as an educational resource in schools. The entire thing was very ironic, too, as “Minecraft’s” creator Notch once mocked the idea of making apps for Windows Phones. Though the Windows Phone did eventually fail, “Microsoft” has slowly removed all mention to Notch from the game, owing to his contentious political views.

Often, there isn’t much competition in huge acquisitions; you don’t get many companies all wanting to pay billions of dollars to buy a rival business at the same time. But this wasn’t the case with Montoon, which was so lucrative it was the subject of a bidding war between ByteDance and Tencent. It was ByteDance that won out in 2021, getting Montoon for $4 billion. Though ByteDance is a large company as well, it’s not on the level of Tencent, so it was definitely surprising to see it able to win the bidding war. The game that was so enticing is “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang”, a huge MOBA.

One of the biggest publishers in the industry, Activision Blizzard wasn’t kidding around when they stumped up $5.9 billion to buy King in 2016. King is undoubtedly best known for publishing “Candy Crush” and its many spin-offs, itself one of the most popular and lucrative franchises on mobile. Other games your mom probably plays include “Bubble Witch” and “Farm Heroes”. The acquisition has meant that many big Activision franchises, notably “Crash Bandicoot”, have headlined mobile games, and it’s also brought mobile iterations of “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” to cell phones everywhere. It meant Activision was able to get in on insanely popular games like “Candy Crush” with no development time.

Certainly, the most high-profile acquisition for a time, Microsoft’s bid to buy ZeniMax, parent-company of Bethesda, for $7.5 billion was met with skepticism by many people concerned with how consumer-friendly this purchase was going to be. Regardless, the deal went through without getting blocked by competition watchdogs, and years on it’s been revealed that first-party Bethesda games are going to become Microsoft exclusives. Though “Deathloop” remained a timed exclusive for PlayStation, going forward, “Starfield” is going to be a Microsoft exclusive available on PC and Xbox on day-one through Game Pass. Classic Bethesda IPs from “The Elder Scrolls” to “Dishonored” have also made their way to Game Pass since.

It may not have brought Montoon under its vast umbrella, but it did successfully buy Supercell in 2016 for an eye-watering $9.2 billion. Supercell is notable for being the developer behind “Clash of Clans”, possibly one of the most popular strategy games on mobile. Since 2016, Tencent has repeatedly increased its shareholder majority in Supercell, paying tens of millions each time for incremental increases in its own power. As well as “Clash of Clans”, Supercell is also the creator of hero shooter “Brawl Stars” and “Clash Royale”. It marked yet another developer owned by Tencent, which has frequently gotten in the news for its purchase history.

Though Zynga made plenty of acquisitions, it wasn’t beyond getting acquired itself. That’s what happened in January 2022, when Take-Two unveiled what was – very briefly – the most expensive video game acquisition on record. It was going to buy up Zynga for $12.7 billion, all for a taste of that sweet, mobile-game-microtransaction pie. And, of course, Peak Games was part of the bundle. Not satisfied with its ownership of Rockstar, creator of the most lucrative entertainment products in history, Take-Two wanted ownership of mobile game giants like “FarmVille”. It’s been seen as Take-Two expanding from the world of hardcore games, which it completely dominates, into the casual space.

By an absolute landslide, the costliest acquisition yet in video games is Microsoft’s offering to purchase Activision Blizzard in January 2022. Microsoft is planning to put up an astonishing $68.7 billion for the privilege of owning this troubled games company. The move comes after years of scrutiny on Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick, still one of the most overpaid in the business, and 2021’s watershed allegations of worker mistreatment in the company. The leadership has already been under pressure to step-down – however, despite Microsoft expressing its “concern” over the allegations, it’s said it’s not yet planning on removing Kotick. And who knows what this acquisition might bring, we might see “Call of Duty” become part of Xbox Game Pass.