Activision Blizzard has agreed to buy “Candy Crush Saga” maker King Digital Entertainment for $5.9B. Although that represents a more than $1B drop in value for King since its IPO in early 2014, the acquisition of one public gaming company by another still ranks among the largest game industry M&A deals in recent memory.
We used CB Insights data to identify the top 12 exits (based on disclosed valuations) in digital gaming since 2009, to see how the King-Activision deal ranks alongside the other top M&A and IPO transactions involving gaming startups.
There were several companies that counted VCs as notable backers before exit. Zynga, known for its social gaming hit Farmville, exited for $7.7B and was backed by Union Square Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Foundry Group, among others (Zynga has a $2.3B market cap as of 11/4/2015). Supercell (known for “Clash of Clans”) also had top VCs as backers including Accel Partners and Index Ventures, among others.
Click on the chart below to enlarge.
Below is a table listing the top 12 digital gaming exits since 2009 from the chart above, with exit data and acquirer (where relevant) included. Three of the top six transactions were M&A deals, including King’s acquisition by Activision Blizzard, the corporate majority deal for Supercell by Softbank, and Microsoft’s purchase of Sweden’s Mojang (known for “Minecraft”).
| Company | Exit Valuation | Acquirer | Exit Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zynga | $ 7,700 | IPO | Dec-11 |
| Nexon Holdings | $ 7,200 | IPO | Dec-11 |
| King Digital Entertainment | $ 7,090 | IPO | Mar-14 |
| King Digital Entertainment | $ 5,900 | Acq P2P | Nov-15 |
| Supercell | $ 5,500 | Softbank (Corporate Majority) | Jun-15 |
| Mojang | $ 2,500 | Microsoft | Sep-14 |
| Popcap Games | $ 1,300 | Electronic Arts | Jul-11 |
| FunPlus – Mature Gaming Assets | $ 960 | Zhongji Investment Holdings | Aug-14 |
| Tongbu Technology | $ 954 | XPEC Entertainment | Oct-14 |
| Big Fish Games | $ 885 | Churchill Downs | Nov-14 |
| Shanggame | $ 700 | Ourpalm | Feb-15 |
| Ourpalm | $ 618 | IPO | Mar-12 |
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