Preaching Games — Anton Gorodetsky (MY.GAMES / InvestGame)

Three platforms, three different stories – and only one is growing Part 5 of my breakdown of the Q2 2026 Video Game Market Update by Aream & Co., built with InvestGame data. This time: platform trends. PC – Steam +13% YoY LTM revenue – Peak CCU at 42.4m, near all-time highs in a seasonally soft quarter – Five-year CAGR: 16% paid, 13% F2P Console – Segment flat at +3% YoY – Nintendo +90% YoY on the Switch 2 cycle — PlayStation -5%, Xbox -7% (hardware -33%) – Strip out Switch 2 and the segment is shrinking Mobile – $19.4B gross IAP, -4% YoY — 11.3B installs, a multi-year low, down from 14.7B in Q1-23 – A quarter of the install base gone in three years, revenue roughly flat And the detail that explains the rest: 13 of the top-20 grossing mobile games are 4+ years old. Only two launched in the last two years – Kingshot and Delta Force. Fewer installs, an aging chart, almost no room for newcomers. Which makes it much clearer why Q2's private capital went into AdTech and AI tooling instead of new content. Next up: the geography shift – Singapore +32%, Türkiye +25%, while the US, Japan and Korea declined. #Gaming #GamingIndustry #MobileGaming #PCGaming #Steam #InvestGame

A lot has changed in how offices work, and not all of it has settled. Some went hybrid and stayed, some quietly rolled it back, some rebuilt the office around collaboration and left focused work at home. Six years on, there's still no default. So – a question for anyone running offices at a games or software company, especially with teams in more than one country. We're rethinking how we manage ours and I'd rather learn from peers than guess: – What change in office management stuck for good after covid? – One set of guidelines across countries, or each office its own way? – Any software you actually rely on for attendance, procurement, service requests? First one matters most to me. Happy to trade notes on what's changed on our side. Drop a comment or DM, or we can do a quick call.

📊 InvestGame Weekly Digest #32 16 deals, $1.7B announced — but the headline number misses the two deals that actually mattered, because both were agreed earlier and just closed inside the window. 🔥 EA's $55B take-private is done. Largest all-cash sponsor buyout on record, closed 309 days after announcement at $210/share. PIF, Silver Lake, Affinity Partners. Trading halted Aug 4, delisting notice filed same day. No change to the multiples from Sep'25. 🔥 Nazara closed Bluetile + BestPlay for $303m — 2.0x revenue, 10.9x EBITDA. Worth reading the restructuring rationale: the investment committee expected earn-outs running up to 180% of committed payouts, so they scrapped the structure and bought both outright in cash. Bluetile's founder becomes Nazara CEO on Sep 1 and is reinvesting $61m back into the group. The acquired business out-earned all of Nazara in Q1'FY27. Other moves: – Tripledot bought Supersonic from Unity for $40m; Unity is out of hybrid-casual publishing – Digital Hearts going private at $149m, chairman's own vehicle, 41% premium — plus buying IMAGICA GEEQ's debugging arm and ~500 staff – Corsair picked up Trak Racer's assets for Fanatec – Devolver proposing to leave AIM with no acquirer at all: -56.3% on the week, 6.10p vs a 157p IPO Markets: Unity +35.6% on Q2, Bandai Namco +17.1%, Asmodee +11.4%. Down: Devolver -56.3%, Playtika -26.3%, AppLovin -12.4% despite 53% revenue growth. https://investgame.net/news/digest/32-2026/

📊 InvestGame Weekly Digest #31 33 deals tracked, $7m disclosed – but 29 of those are one UK grant cohort, and the week's real headline number isn't in the total. 🔥 Deal of the week: Digital Bros committed €21.5m to a WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers sequel, developed by Indolphinity in Chengdu – a new studio from the original's creative director, who left Leenzee in January. 505 Games funds and publishes; Digital Bros bought the IP outright back in April. For context, that commitment is ~12% of the company's market cap. Shares +19.7% on the week. Other notable moves: – Razer acquired StreamElements' assets, ending months of near-death drama. Tools stay free, platform stays independent, some of the fee goes to unpaid creators – UK Games Fund backed 29 studios with Prototype grants — biggest cohort since 2015 – Drilo Ventures launched a $30m fund for Turkish-founded mobile studios only. $500k–$1.5m cheques, first deal expected in Oct – ForgeGUI raised $3.2m Seed at $40m for AI game-asset generation. Founded in March by a 17-year-old, 300k users, two engineers total Markets: broadly green – 55 of 62 tracked names up, median +4.9%. Roblox the exception: -26.9% in one session, its worst day ever, after Q2 bookings grew 8% and full-year guidance was pulled. Capcom +19.8% on a ninth straight record Q1. Full digest: https://investgame.net/news/digest/31-2026/

Friday afternoon post for you: 📊 Gaming's public market paradox: more listings, falling stocks Part 4 of my Q2-26 report breakdown (by Aream & Co., built on InvestGame data): public markets. The comeback: 📈 25 deals, +67% YoY – $1.7B raised, with PIPEs driving the rebound 🔔 Liftoff's $503M IPO led the quarter 🎯 PlaySimple's ~$350M IPO announced, plus Fellowship Entertainment's planned public spin-off The contradiction: 📉 Gaming stocks kept sliding – most posted double-digit YTD declines, only large-caps held up 🤔 All despite reported revenue growth across much of the sector Companies see a window to list. Public investors keep rotating out. One side will be proven wrong. Next up: platform trends 👀 📖 Full report: https://investgame.net/news/aream-co-releases-q2-2026-gaming-market-update/

📊 InvestGame Weekly Digest #30 7 deals tracked this week, worth $640m combined – and that's before counting the rumour of the week. 🔥 Big one: Playtika may be selling SuperPlay to Tencent for up to $1.5B, per Calcalist. Bought for $700m in Nov'24, the studio's 2025 revenue came in 67% above the earnout baseline – so this would be a very fast, very profitable flip if it lands. Other notable moves: – Alpha Dog Games (Mighty DOOM) completed an MBO from Microsoft, back to independent ownership – Meshy raised ~$400m Series B at a $1.5B valuation – text-to-3D asset gen for game studios – HiDream.ai closed $221.6m Series C, crossing unicorn status – KRAFTON backed commerce platform Neon's $13m Series A Markets: Stillfront +31.8% on Q2 earnings, Playstudios -24.1% on its ongoing Nasdaq compliance issues, Ubisoft -12.3% on soft bookings. Full digest: https://investgame.net/news/digest/30-2026/

💰 Private capital is back in gaming – $3.1B in one quarter Part 3 of my Q2-26 report breakdown (by Aream & Co., built on InvestGame data): private investment. The numbers: 📈 $3.1B deployed – +492% YoY, the biggest quarterly haul in years 🔁 108 deals, roughly flat YoY – same number of checks, much bigger checks The mega-rounds: 🚀 AppsFlyer – ~$1B Series E (AdTech), the quarter's largest 🤖 AI-native players: General Intuition ($454M), Decart ($400M), Odyssey ($310M), VAST ($250M) Gaming-adjacent tech – AdTech, AI, immersive hardware – took the largest share of private capital, and AI mega-rounds drove Series A value to a multi-year high. The flip side: pre-seed & seed fell 56% YoY to just $0.1B. Fewer, bigger, later-stage bets. Next up: public markets 👀 📖 Full report: https://investgame.net/news/aream-co-releases-q2-2026-gaming-market-update/

Heading to gamescom. Let's talk about the stuff that actually moves the needle. Cologne, 24–28 August. Most of my year at MY.GAMES has been about making us faster, leaner, and more AI-native – so here's what I want to dig into: → R&D streamlining – less cost, more speed, faster ideation; keen to swap best practices and war stories too → AI that survives contact with production – across dev, BI, legal, and finance, plus predictable token/cost control and agentic tools that actually earn their place → Console porting for third-party studios – Switch 2, custom Nanite pipeline, shipped titles behind us If any of this is your world too, let's meet. DM me to book a slot.

Hivemind is coming to Cologne on 26 August, and I want you in the room. This one delivers. It's where the industry actually meets – studio and publisher decision-makers who show up to build real connections, not collect business cards. If you're in town for Gamescom week (I am), this is the evening I'd tell you to block off. The right room. The right people. The right conversations. This might be the biggest Hivemind mixer yet. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧: → Curated topic roundtables led by industry professionals → Speed networking that connects decision-makers fast → An organic mixer zone built for conversations that keep going → Food & drinks throughout the night to fuel the talks 🗓 Date: 26th August 🕕 Time: 18:00 📍 Cologne, Germany 🇩🇪 🖇️ Registration is open: https://luma.com/hivemind-cologne If you're building, investing, or leading in gaming, this is where you should spend your Wednesday evening. Come say hi – I'll be there the whole night. Send this to someone who should be in the room too. Hivemind Cologne is sponsored by FastSpring, Mellow, GameFabric by Nitrado, Ironroot Games, and EBANX. Welcome to the Hivemind 🌐

🤝 Gaming M&A: busiest quarter since 2022 Part 2 of our Q2-26 report breakdown – dealmaking. The Video Game Market Update by Aream & Co., built on InvestGame data. The numbers: 📈 54 deals closed in Q2 – a post-pandemic high 💵 $2.3B deployed, on par with recent quarters The headline deals: 🎯 Scopely closed its ~$1B acquisition of Loom Games 💼 Wemade founder's ~$0.6B stake sale announced The real story is mid-market: $100M+ content acquisitions are back at their highest level since the pandemic boom. Buyers are shopping in PC (Playstack, Fenris Creations/CCP) and casual mobile (Loom, JustPlay, Bluetile). Meanwhile private equity keeps piling in – sponsor-backed gaming deals have passed $84.7B in cumulative value. Consolidation isn't coming back. It's already here. Next up: the $3.1B private investment surge 👀 📖 Full report: https://investgame.net/news/aream-co-releases-q2-2026-gaming-market-update/

Back from vacation this week – and what a quarter to catch up on. 🎮 The Q2 2026 Video Game Market Update by Aream & Co., built on InvestGame data, went live last week. If you missed it too, here's why it's worth your time: 📈 $7.1B in total deal value across 187 transactions – gaming dealmaking is firmly back. A few headlines from the quarter: 🤝 Busiest M&A quarter since 2022 – 54 deals worth $2.3B, led by Scopely's ~$1B acquisition of Loom Games 💰 Private investment surged ~6x YoY to $3.1B – the biggest quarterly haul in years, topped by AppsFlyer's ~$1B round and AI-native mega-rounds 📊 Public offerings up 67% YoY in deal count, headlined by Liftoff's ~$0.5B IPO 🕹️ Steam near all-time highs, Switch 2 revenue up 90% YoY This is just the surface. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be unpacking the report piece by piece – M&A, private capital, public markets, and platform trends. Full report 👉 https://investgame.net/news/aream-co-releases-q2-2026-gaming-market-update/

Wemade goes China-linked 🇰🇷→🇨🇳 Founder and chairman Park Kwan-Ho is selling his entire 39.33% stake in Wemade (KOSDAQ: 112040) to NeoPulse for ~$597m (KRW 920B), ending a 26-year run at the top. NeoPulse is a Korean SPV owned by Hong Kong's Shengsong Investment, tied to the Alibaba ecosystem – and it'll become Wemade's largest shareholder at 40.25%. The eye-catcher: a ~299% premium over the prior close, versus the usual 20–30% for domestic control deals. Structured as a 10% down payment now, with the ~$537m balance due Oct 30, 2026. The real prize is the Mir IP – ~$20B in cumulative China revenue since 2001. Direct ownership means no publishing middlemen and faster Chinese license approvals. Bundle in WEMIX blockchain execution (MIR4, Night Crows) and AI production (NVIDIA ACE in MIR5), and the premium starts to make sense. Big watch item: what happens to WEMIX under new owners — preserved, spun off, or wound down? 📎 https://investgame.net/news/wemade-founder-sells-controlling-stake-to-china-linked-neopulse-for-597m/

🏰 Rush Royale just crossed $500 million in lifetime revenue. Since launching in 2020, our tower defense hit has grown steadily to over 105 million downloads – and it's still going strong. This year alone, we celebrated the game's 5th anniversary with a PAC-MAN™: Arcade crossover event, blending retro arcade energy with entirely new co-op mechanics. Milestones like this belong to two groups: the development team that keeps evolving the game year after year, and the players whose feedback and passion push us to keep raising the bar. Here's to the next 500 million. 🚀 🔗 Full announcement: https://about.my.games/news/567

The biggest story this week isn't a game. It's the infrastructure underneath it. InvestGame Weekly Digest #26 is out – 12 announced deals, $1.4B in disclosed transaction value. Two deals defined the week: AppsFlyer closed a $1B+ Series E at a $2.7B valuation, with Google, Meta, Moloco, and Unity each taking minority stakes. All four are major ad platforms whose own campaigns run through AppsFlyer's attribution stack – which makes the round less a standard growth raise and more a pre-IPO alignment play. The company had turned down PE acquisition offers at $1.9B just three months prior. At $500M ARR, the $2.7B post-money implies a 5.4x multiple. An IPO appears imminent. General Intuition raised $320M in a Series A at a $2.3B valuation, led by Khosla Ventures (re-upping from the Seed). The company trains action models – systems that learn optimal decisions, not environment simulations – using billions of human gameplay clips from Medal, a platform under the same parent with 17M+ MAU. The round closed in January but was announced only last week. This completes a remarkable cluster: three $300M+ raises in the world model / AI simulation space within months – General Intuition, Decart, and Odyssey – each occupying distinct positions in the stack. Elsewhere: Chess.com took undisclosed strategic capital from CVC's Sports, Media & Entertainment practice. Nexon and South Korea's Ministry of Culture co-launched a ~$78M fund targeting AI-era game developers. 34BigThings completed a management buyout from Embracer, with founder Valerio Di Donato reacquiring 100% of the studio. And China-based Hyper3D closed a new round reportedly in the hundreds of millions RMB after its Rodin Gen-2.5 model drove 400%+ MoM growth in subscribers and ARR. Full digest.

Odyssey raises $310M Series B to scale world simulation US-based AI lab Odyssey has closed a $310M Series B at a $1.45B post-money valuation – led by Natural Capital, with Amazon, GV (Google Ventures), AMD Ventures, EQT, and In-Q-Tel joining in. Alongside the round, AWS becomes Odyssey's preferred cloud provider, with the team partnering Amazon's Annapurna Labs to co-optimize world models on Trainium chips. Founded in 2023 by self-driving veterans Oliver Cameron (CEO) and Jeff Hawke (CTO), with a team pulled from DeepMind, Tesla, Waymo, Meta, Apple, and Wayve. Total disclosed funding now sits at $337M across three rounds in under two years. What they build: general world models – causal, multimodal AI systems that predict, simulate, and interact with physical environments over long time horizons. Target verticals span robotics, gaming, healthcare, education, science, and defense (the last one underscored by In-Q-Tel's involvement). Coming right on the heels of Decart's $300M Series B, world simulation is starting to look like its own AI infrastructure category – pulling in serious capital at an accelerating pace. https://investgame.net/news/odyssey-310m-series-b-to-scale-world-simulation/

Preaching Games — Anton Gorodetsky (MY.GAMES / InvestGame) pinned «Hey, I'm Anton Gorodetsky — Head of Industry Relations at MY.GAMES and Co-Founder of InvestGame. This channel is where I share what I work on and follow in the games business: InvestGame deal analysis and market intelligence, industry news worth your attention…»

Hey, I'm Anton Gorodetsky — Head of Industry Relations at MY.GAMES and Co-Founder of InvestGame. This channel is where I share what I work on and follow in the games business: InvestGame deal analysis and market intelligence, industry news worth your attention, and updates from my talks and appearances. No noise — just signal from someone who loves the business of games. I also run a Russian-language channel — @propoveduetgames_ru — where I break down the best games-business reads with summaries, key facts, and my own takes. If you read Russian or have colleagues who do, come along (or send it their way). Views are my own, not my employer's, and nothing here is investment advice. Glad to have you here.