The fundraising situation is further complicated by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission’s crackdown on blockchain and cryptocurrency companies. During the go-go period between 2020 and 2022, crypto-related game investments were a major source of investment in the sector, and remain an area many game executives continue to explore.
“While blockchain is still obtaining interest from investors, Q2’s $1.7B across 10 funds resulted in a further decline in capital raised when compared to Q1’s $3.4B across 6 funds, showcasing that blockchain investors may be hedging their exposure during blockchain regulation uncertainty,” according to the report.
But Microsoft now looks positioned to satisfy those concerns and close the acquisition perhaps as soon as this quarter, which would make it the biggest acquisition in video game history. And for all the chilly investment climate, 2023’s Q2 was still third-best in DDM’s decade and a half of tracking the industry, at least in terms of the number of deals, if not their value. No surprise, the two best second quarters on record were in 2021 and 2022, DDM said.