Aream & Co.: Gaming Investment Market in Q2’25

• Mobile market IAP revenue has stabilized at around $20 billion per quarter.

• This is happening against the backdrop of declining downloads. The situation is concerning as new user inflow is dropping, so competition for existing users intensifies.

• Century Games, Supercell, and iKame are leaders in incremental IAP revenue growth (after the 30% commission) in the US market.

• The PC market looks more positive. Steam revenue in Q2’25 grew 20% year-over-year. CCU (concurrent users) on the platform is hitting new records.

• Over the last 5 years, the average annual growth rate for F2P games was 17%; for premium projects, 13%. Peak CCU is growing at 11% per year.

• Among key new releases in Q2’25: two new IPs (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Rematch), both launched in partnership with Kepler Interactive.

• The console market remains cyclical and heavily dependent on new hardware and major releases.

• For the 2024 fiscal year, Xbox gaming revenue grew by 5%. In the same period, Sony reported 9% growth and 77 million PlayStation 5 units sold. Nintendo, however, saw a 30% drop in revenue, reporting just before the launch of Nintendo Switch 2.

• CCU in Fortnite and Roblox continues to climb.

• The situation on Twitch is mixed: the number of games streamed is rising (good), but users are spending less time watching content (bad).

• All UGC platforms are increasing payouts to creators. In 2024, Roblox paid out 25% more than in 2023 ($923M vs. $741M). Epic Games increased payouts by 11% ($352M vs. $317M). Overwolf raised payouts by 19% ($240M vs. $201M).

• In total, $1.5 billion was paid out in 2024, 20% more than in 2023.

• Alongside the growth in payouts, investments related to UGC studios are also rising.

Aream & Co. prepared the investment market analysis in collaboration with InvestGame.

• The first half of 2025 was the best since the end of the pandemic in terms of deal volume ($9.5B, up 144% vs. the previous half-year) and number of deals (82 deals—a record since H2’22).

❗️The Activision Blizzard/Microsoft deal is excluded. The Dream Games deal is expected to close in Q3’25.

• All recent major deals are in the mobile segment, with the exception of the Keywords Studios deal.

• Since 2018, private companies and funds have made 68 deals totaling $22B (InvestGame estimates). Since 2024, there have been 6 major deals: Niantic Games, Keywords Studios, Jagex, Liftoff, Dream Games, and Aonic.

• M&A activity has recovered post-COVID. Since H1 2024, activity continues to grow, the market is consolidating rapidly.

❗️However, if you exclude Keywords Studios (not a developer or publisher), there is no clear upward trend.

• Public market activity reached a four-year high in H1 2025: 26 deals (+24% YoY) totaling $10B (+134% YoY).

• Companies are actively using financial instruments—convertible bonds, additional share issues, PIPE investments, flexible credit lines.

• The stock index for major diversified holdings (Tencent, Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts) grew 58% YoY in Q2’25. PC/console developers (Capcom, Square Enix, CDPR, Paradox Interactive) saw a 38% YoY increase.

• Mobile developer stocks are not doing as well. Asian companies (Nexon, Krafton, NCSoft, Netmarble) grew 2%. Western developers (Playtika, MTG, Stillfront) fell 27% YoY.

• EBITDA multiples for PC/console developers are at historic highs – 18x. Major holdings are at 15.4x. Mobile developers are at historic lows: Asian companies trade at 10.6x EBITDA; Western at 5x.

• Investor sentiment toward the gaming market has recovered. Most gaming stocks are at 52-week highs.

• Interestingly, despite high valuations and multiples, most PC/console companies did not show revenue growth in Q1’25. Mobile companies, on the contrary, did.

• Nintendo, Capcom, and Take-Two are likely to be the most attractive stocks by the end of 2026.

• VC activity in H1’25 reached a five-year low. Total volume: $0.8B (-77% YoY) across 177 deals (lowest in 5 years).

• Early-stage deal count (excluding Web3 and esports) continues to fall. In H1’25, there were 85 pre-seed/seed deals totaling $0.4B. Series A volume: $0.2B across 18 deals.

• The investment climate for early-stage companies is the worst in 5 years.

• The largest Q2’25 content producer deals: Bigger ($25M, Series A), HYBE ($21M, Series B+), Amplitude Studios ($13.6M, Series A).

• Among platforms and tech solutions, leaders are Sett ($15M, Series A—AI creative production), eloelo ($13.5M, Series B—India-focused creator platform), and spAItial ($13M, seed—UGC platform).

• Since 2020, over $2B has been invested in AI gaming startups, with 283 deals known.

• Türkiye has become a key region for VC investments. Since 2020, there have been 113 early-stage deals totaling $0.8B. In the last 1.5 years, there were 28 deals—more than in any other country.

• Another trend: Aream & Co. notes that companies are actively using external capital for UA.

• A16Z Games (20), Bitkraft (19), and Laton Ventures (11) are the most active investors by deal count over the last 12 months.

• Bitkraft ($123M), A16Z Games ($107M), and Play Ventures ($98M) are the leaders by invested capital.

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