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回顾2012年游戏行业主要并购及投资交易

发布时间:2013-01-26 16:11:47 Tags:,,

作者:Dean Takahashi

在2012年,随着平板电脑和智能手机等新兴平台的崛起,游戏行业持续扩张并覆盖数十亿的玩家群体。但由于Zynga社交游戏收益下滑等消极现象的影响(游戏邦注:Zynga股票也因此一再下挫,从而导致社交游戏泡沫破裂,社交游戏公司估值一路走低),这一行业的发展也有所减缓。

这些现象也对2012年游戏收购和投资交易造成了影响。2012是游戏行业收购交易膨胀的一年,同比上年增长23%,交易额超过34.77亿美元(2011年为28.27亿美元)。但交易数量却有所下滑,投资额也同样如此。

mergers-acquisitions(from rackcdn.com)

mergers-acquisitions(from rackcdn.com)

但与2011年相比,2012年平均每笔收购交易额更高。但与历年情况相同,多数公司都选择对收购价值保密。据GamesBeat、Digi-Capital、Internet Deal Book以及EA的相关调查结果显示,2012年发生了58笔与游戏相关的收购交易,2011年则是77笔交易。2012年平均每笔交易额为6000万美元(具体估值仍然处于未公开状态),而去年的这一数据则是3600万美元。

收购和瓦解并行。传统游戏公司以及主流娱乐品牌正在适应行业重心由主机转向社交、移动和网络游戏领域的这场巨变,而社交博彩游戏与真钱在线赌博公司之间的壁垒也正在倒塌。看到美国合法化在线赌博活动的曙光,博彩游戏在2012年成为炙手可热的领域。不少游戏公司正在向免费增值模式(游戏邦注:即支持玩家免费玩游戏,付费购买虚拟道具)转型,这也是行业瓦解的一个标志。游戏领域也同样存在人才抢夺战,这其中的表现就是大型公司并购小型公司。

Zynga已经不复当初平均每月收购一家公司的超级速度,但仍在2012年收购了9家公司。日本GREE公司则为了抢在竞争对手DeNA之前扩张美国市场而加快了收购手机游戏工作室的步伐。许多游戏公司通过大众融资渠道集资,以求摆脱被大型竞争对手收购的命运。EA在这一年中则鲜有收购动静,或许是需要时间消化2011年以13亿美元大手笔收购PopCap Games所带来的影响。

从IPO情况来看,表现出色的只有中国的多玩(YY Inc.),在11月份融资8190万美元,以及伦敦的Zattika(已上市并收购三家公司)。奇怪的是微软今年在此并无收购动静,对于一家准备发布新电子游戏主机设备的公司来说,这种情况实为罕见。

以下是GamesBeat根据交易金额所整理出的2012年行业收购情况:

1.Nexon以6.88亿美元收购MMO游戏发行商NCsoft公司14.7%的股份。这是一笔私人交易,因为Nexon只是从NCsoft创始人及董事长Taek Jin Kim手中购得这些股票。去年行业最大的收购交易是EA以13亿美元将PopCap Games收入囊中,其中有5.5亿美元属于基于财务表现的额外追加款项。

2.中国浙报传媒从盛大游戏手中收购边锋,交易额为31.8亿人民币(5.038亿美元)。

3.老虎机游戏制造商International Game Technology(IGT)斥资5亿美元收购Double Down Interactive,这是2012年初预示社交博彩游戏泡沫的第一笔收购交易,该交易发生于美国司法部宣布只要美国各州法律允许,就可以实现在线赌博活动合法化的消息之后。Double Down Interactive当时只是一家仅有70名成员的社交游戏公司,其最近财季报告表明公司社交博彩游戏收益仍在不断增长。

4.Nexon以4.86亿美元收购Gloops。至少就目前来看,这可能是手机游戏领域中涉及金额最大的一笔收购交易。Gloops是一家日本开发商,代表作包括《JapanPro Baseball Card Battle》以及《Warriors of Odin》。

5.索尼以3.8亿美元收购Gaikai。尽管Gaikai几乎没有收益,这笔交易却标志着云游戏服务的潜力不容忽视。而不久之后云游戏服务领羊头OnLive却宣告倒闭,其资产只能贱价出售。索尼并未宣布针对Gaikai的具体计划,但将向其下一代主机设备提供云服务,这一举措也势必影响其基于盒装零售模式的主机游戏业务。

6.GREE以2.1亿美元收购Funzio。GREE于2012年初,也就是游戏行业泡沫仍然膨胀之时就大举向美国手机游戏市场扩张。Funzio因推出《Modern Combat》和《Kingdom Age》等热作而受到GREE青睐。GREE已通过其移动社交网络创收超过10亿美元,并笃信美国手机游戏玩家也将能够创造堪比日本用户的收益。在2012年底,GREE的收购步伐仍未减缓,但同时也进行了一些裁员措施。

7.Zynga以1.8亿美元收购OMGPOP(以及基于运营表现的额外追加款项)。但OMGPOP旗下热作《Draw Something》的市场表现,在开发团队被Zynga收购之后就开始每况愈下。Zynga不得不在2012年底在这笔收购交易价值中报废9500万美元。

8.GREE以1.73亿美元收购卡牌游戏公司Pokelabo,后者旗下代表作包括iOS和Android平台的收集卡牌游戏《Mystic Monsters》。这笔交易执行于10月份,当时Zynga处于颓势的情况已经很明朗,而游戏投资热也正在降温。这笔交易表明,GREE不惧游戏市场投资周期中的小波折。

9.NCsoft以9600万美元收购韩国休闲游戏开发商Ntreev Soft公司76%的股份。NCsoft意在借此提升公司在休闲游戏市场表现,并为达成这笔交易与SK Telecom进行了数月谈判。Ntreev代表作是在线高尔夫游戏《Pangya》以及MMO游戏《Trickster》。

10.Play Phone出手5150万美元收购移动营销公司SocialHour。这笔基于股票的交易标志着移动社交游戏网络PlayPhone将可向平台上的游戏推出非刺激下载性质的交叉推广服务。

11.中国浙报传媒以4910万美元从盛大游戏手中收购浩方。

12.Wargaming以4500万美元收购BigWorld。Wargaming的网络游戏《坦克世界》收益甚为可观,拥有4500万注册用户。BigWorld的专长是创建用于MMO游戏的中间件。

13.Amaya Gaming以3200万美元收购Ongame Network,后者是Bwin.party旗下的B2B在线扑克网站。

14.Glu Mobile以2800万美元的股票收购位于华盛顿的Griptonite Games,以便以由扩展免费增值游戏业务。

15.中国热酷以2000万美元收购社交游戏公司HappySNS。

16.中国空中网以1500万美元收购Noumena Innovations,后者是智能手机游戏引擎Handymo开发商。

17.Big Fish Games以1200万美元收购Self Aware Games,对于休闲游戏公司Big Fish而言,这一举措是其以较低成本进军社交博彩游戏市场的途径。

18.Glu Mobile以450万美元的股票收购多伦多工作室Blammo Games,以便进一步扩张移动游戏业务。

19.Zynga以未公布交易额形式收购社交游戏开发商Wild Needle,据知情者透露,该交易价值为380万美元。

以下是一些未公布具体金额的交易:

20.Aeria Games与日本Gamepot合并,后者是PC和手机游戏开发商。

21.Arktos收购了Hammerpoint Interactive的多数股份(后者是可下载游戏《The War Z》开发商)。

22.Corona Labs收购移动云服务公司Game Minion。

23.Kabam收购了中国3D社交游戏开发团队Balanced Worlds。

24.Zynga为进军中核游戏市场收购Noverber Software。

25.迪士尼收购卢卡斯影业,包括后者旗下游戏发行商LucasArts。

26.Saban Brands收购儿童在线视频及游戏网站Zui。

27.EA收购网络游戏开发商ESN,后者曾开发Planet网页游戏框架,并曾参与开发《战地3》的在线社交网站Battlelog。

28.Zynga收购了中核游戏开发商A Bit Lucky(《Lucky Train》开发商)。

29.GREE收购美国移动游戏开发商App Ant Studios。

30.Playsino进军博彩游戏领域并收购Popover Games,同一天又宣布收购Foghorn Games。

31.NaturalMotion收购了3D iOS游戏开发商Boss Alien。

32.Epci Games收购People Can Fly,这是2012年为数不多的主机游戏领域收购交易之一。

33.Saban Brands收购了《僵尸农场》开发商The Playforge。

34.Glu Mobile从IGN手中购得GameSpy Technology。

35.移动广告网站Tapjoy收购社交游戏网站Viximo的核心团队。

36.Aeria Games收购了Ijji旗下的三款主流在线射击游戏。

37.可下载游戏公司Green Man Gaming及社交游戏网络Playfire合并。

38.Roadhouse收购社交移动游戏开发商The Embassy Interactive。

39.Kabam收购Wild Shadow Studios,后者是2D射击游戏《Realm of the Mad God》。

40.Zynga收购Buzz Monkey,后者曾参与开发主机游戏《Army of Two:40th Day》。

41.日本Klab公司收购社交游戏公司Pikkle。

42、43、44.Zattika在IPO之后收购了Hattrick Holdings、Sneaky Games以及Concept Art House这三家社交游戏公司。

45.Kabam收购Gravity Bear(代表作是社交游戏《Battle Punks》)。

46.《愤怒的小鸟》开发商Rovio芬兰游戏公司Futuremark Games Studio。

47.King.com收购手机游戏公司Fabrication Games。

48.Otoy收购Refractive Software,进军基于云的动画和游戏工具制作领域。

49.Z2Live合并Big Sandwich Games,后者代表作是手机游戏《Battle Nations》。

50.Peak Games收购Saudi Arabia旗下的Kammelna,借此进入中东社交游戏市场。

51.Linden Lab收购LittleTextPeople以便获得后者的开发人材。

52.Kabam收购Fearless Studios(该团队由前《星球大战》开发者组建)。

53、54、55、56.Zynga收购Gamedoctors、Page44Studios、HipLogic以及Astro Ape Studios四家手机游戏公司。

57.6waves Lolapps收购手机游戏开发商Escalation Studios。

58.Ascend Acquisition Corp与手机游戏公司Andover Games合并。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

The DeanBeat: Game acquisitions rise 23 percent to $3.4B in 2012

Dean Takahashi

During 2012, gaming continued its worldwide expansion toward billions of gamers as new platforms such as tablets and smartphones took off. But that growth was tempered against financial hardships such as the decline of Zynga’s social gaming revenues. That led to a collapse in Zynga’s stock price that deflated the social gaming bubble and hurt valuations.

Those countervailing forces affected the year in game acquisitions and investments. Acquisitions saw a boom year, rising 23 percent to more than $3.477 billion spent on game companies, compared to $2.827 billion a year earlier. But the number of deals declined and investments fell off.

Of course, if we knew the value of every deal, the numbers would be much higher this year. But we have the same problem every year as the majority of the deals keep the values secret. 2012 saw 58 game-related deals, compared to 77 in 2011, according to original research by GamesBeat with contributions from Sana Choudary of YetiZen, Tim Merel of Digi-Capital, Internet Deal Book, and Electronic Arts. The average deal size (where values were disclosed) was $60 million, compared with $36 million from a year earlier.

Acquisitions and disruption go together. Deal valuations are building because traditional game companies and major entertainment brands are adapting to the major shift away from the consoles toward social, mobile, and online gaming. And the barriers between social casino games and real-money online gambling companies are falling. With the prospect of legalization in the U.S. driving up values, casino games were hot in 2012. More disruptions are happening as game companies adopt new business such as free-to-play games, where users play for free and pay small amounts for virtual goods. Gaming also has its own version of the war for talent as big companies acquire smaller ones.

Zynga slowed down its acquisitions from its torrid pace of one per month, but it still bought nine companies during the year. Japan’s Gree stepped up its acquisitions of mobile game studios as it tried to expand ahead of rival DeNA into the U.S. market. Many game companies raised money through crowdfunding, obviating the need to sell out to larger rivals. Electronic Arts paused to digest its $1.3 billion purchase of PopCap Games from 2011.

As far as initial public offerings go, the only stand-outs were China’s YY, which raised $81.9 million in November, and London’s Zattika, which went public and acquired three companies. Microsoft was curiously absent from the acquisitive companies. That’s very odd for a company that is preparing to launch a new video game console sometime soon.

Here’s a look at the deals of the year. We’ve organized them by dollar value of the transactions. For those deals where the value was not disclosed, we have listed them in reverse chronological order. We have linked to our own VentureBeat/GamesBeat stories where we covered them. For deals, we didn’t cover, we have linked to other publications or press releases.

1. Nexon bought 14.7 percent of massively multiplayer online game publisher NCsoft for $688 million. This was a private transaction where Nexon purchased shares owned by Taek Jin Kim, chairman and founder of NCsoft, publisher of titles such as Guild Wars 2, Aion, Lineage II and Wildstar. By comparison, last year’s top deal happened when Electronic Arts bought PopCap Games for up to $1.3 billion, including $550 million that depended on performance targets.

2. China’s ZheBao Media bought GameABC.com from online game publisher Shanda Games for 3.18 billion renminbi, or $503.8 million.

3. International Gaming Technology paid $500 million for Double Down Interactive. This deal in early 2012 signaled the beginning of the bubble around social casino games, just after the Justice Department ruled that online gambling could be legalized in the U.S. if states pass laws allowing it. That opened the door for synergy between gambling companies like slot machine maker IGT and social gaming companies like Double Down, which had just 70 employees. IGT’s latest quarterly report shows that its social casino game revenues are still growing.

4. Nexon bought Gloops for $486 million. This deal may go down as the most money ever paid for a mobile gaming studio (at least so far). Nexon cut its teeth on free-to-play online games such as MapleStory, but it went public in 2011 and has cash to burn. It spent some of that on NCsoft, and it also bought Gloops, a developer based in Japan. Gloops is known for its JapanPro Baseball Card Battle and Warriors of Odin games.

5. Sony acquired Gaikai for $380 million. While Gaikai had almost no revenue, this deal signaled the arrival of cloud gaming as a contender. It was accompanied soon after by the collapse of cloud gaming leader OnLive, whose assets were sold for a pittance. Sony hasn’t said what it will do with Gaikai. But by offering cloud games on its next console, it could certainly disrupt its own $60 disc-based console game business. Better for Sony to do that than somebody else.

6. Gree paid $210 million for Funzio. Gree’s move came in the spring, when the bubble around games was still inflating and the company was aggressively trying to break into the U.S. mobile games market. Funzio seemed to have cracked the code with hit games such as Modern Combat and Kingdom Age. The Japanese company was generating more than a billion in revenue from its mobile social gaming network, and it was betting that U.S. mobile gamers would behave the same way. By the end of the year, Gree was still acquisitive, but it was also laying off staff.

7. Zynga bought OMGPOP for $180 million, plus more if the company hit is targets. But OMGPOP’s Pictionary-style hit game Draw Something fell apart just as Zynga closed the deal. Zynga had to write off $95 million of the deal’s value before the year was over. Still, the social gaming giant justified the deal as a big investment in the mobile market.

8. Gree bought collectible card game maker Pokelabo for $173 million. Pokelabo created digital collectible card games such as Mystic Monsters for iOS and Android. This deal took place in October, after Zynga’s struggles were clear and game investments were on the decline. As such, the high dollar amount shows that Gree wasn’t deterred by a small hiccups in the game market’s investment cycle.

9. NCsoft acquired 76 percent of Korean casual game developer Ntreev Soft for $96 million. Korea’s NCsoft saw the move as a chance to shore up its casual game expertise. It was in talks with SK Telecom to buy the stake for months. Ntreev makes the online golf game Pangya and the massively multiplayer online game Trickster.

10. PlayPhone paid $51.5 million for mobile marketing firm SocialHour. This stock-based deal positioned mobile social gaming network PlayPhone to offer non-incentivized cross promotions for games on its network.

11. China’s ZheBao Media bought CGA.com.cn from Shanda Games for $49.1 million.

12. Wargaming bought BigWorld for $45 million. Wargaming is printing money with its World of Tanks online game, which has 45 million registered users for its 3D tank combat game. BigWorld builds middleware to create massively multiplayer online worlds.

13. Amaya Gaming bought Ongame Network for $32 million. Bwin.party sold off its business-to-business online poker network to Amaya Gaming in the online gambling market.

14. Glu Mobile paid $28 million in stock to acquire Griptonite Games in Kirkland, Wash., as an expansion into free-to-play games.

15. China’s Rekoo paid $20 million for the acquisition of social gaming firm HappySNS.

16. KongZhong purchased Noumena Innovations for $15 million. China’s KongZhong is expanding its online game presence in Asia and acquired Noumena, the maker of the smartphone mobile-game engine Handymo.

17. Big Fish Games acquired Self Aware Games for $12 million. The move was a relatively inexpensive way for casual game market firm Big Fish to dive into the social casino gaming market, which stayed hot for most of 2012.

18. Glu Mobile bought Blammo Games in Toronto as a further expansion into mobile games. The deal was worth around $4.5 million in stock.

19. Zynga bought social game maker Wild Needle for an undisclosed price. A source told us the deal was valued at $3.8 million.

Here’s our list of deals where valuations were not revealed, in reverse chronological order.

19. Aeria Games merged with Japan’s Gamepot, as the companies created PC and mobile game powerhouse.

20. Arktos took a majority stake in Hammerpoint Interactive, creator of The War Z downloadable game.

21. Corona Labs acquired mobile cloud services startup Game Minion.

22. Kabam bought Balanced Worlds to gain a 3D social game development team in China.

23. Zynga bought November Software as it maneuvered to become a bigger player in mid-core games, which are hardcore in nature but can be played for a shorter time.

24. Disney picked up LucasArts, the venerated game publisher, as part of its $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm.

25. Saban Brands acquired kid-friendly online video and gaming site Zui.

26. Electronic Arts bought online game development studio ESN. ESN developed the Planet web-based games framework and had been working on the Battlelog online social network for Battlefield 3.

27. Zynga acquired midcore social game startup A Bit Lucky, maker of Lucky Train.

28. Gree acquired mobile game developer App Ant Studios as the Japanese company continued its expansion in the U.S.

29. Playsino made its move into casino games with the acquisition of Popover Games.

30. And on the same day, Playsino announced its acquisition of Foghorn Games.

31. NaturalMotion acquired Boss Alien as it harvested the fruits of its 3D iOS games.

32. Epic Games acquired People Can Fly to stop its talent from flying out the door. That was one of the few console-PC deals of the year.

33. Saban Brands bought Zombie Farm game maker The Playforge.

34. Glu Mobile acquired GameSpy Technology from IGN as a move into multiplayer gaming technology.

35. Mobile ad network Tapjoy bought the core team of social gaming network startup Viximo.

36. Aeria Games assimilated three major online shooter games owned by Ijji.

37. Downloadable games firm Green Man Gaming and social gaming network Playfire merged.

38. Roadhouse acquired social-mobile game maker The Embassy Interactive.

39. Kabam acquired Wild Shadow Studios, the maker of the 2D shooter game Realm of the Mad God.

40. Zynga picked up Buzz Monkey, a team with console gaming experience on titles such as Army of Two: 40th Day.

41. Japan’s Klab acquired social game company Pikkle.

42, 43, 44. Zattika buys three social game firms after its initial public offering. Zattika bought Hattrick Holdings, Sneaky Games, and Concept Art House.

45. Kabam lifted Gravity Bear, a maker of social games such as Battle Punks.

46. Angry Birds maker Rovio bought its fellow Finnish game firm Futuremark Games Studio.

47. King.com bought Fabrication Games as it pushed beyond social games into mobile.

48. Otoy acquired Refractive Software as part of a move to create cloud-based digital animation and gaming tools.

49. Z2Live swallowed Big Sandwich Games, maker of the mobile game Battle Nations.

50. Peak Games acquired Saudi Arabia’s Kammelna as part of a move to go big with social games in the Middle East.

51. Linden Lab acquired LittleTextPeople for some new development talent.

52. Kabam purchased Fearless Studios, led by former Star Wars game developers.

53, 54, 55, 56. Zynga bought four mobile game companies: Gamedoctors, Page44 Studios, HipLogic, and Astro Ape Studios.

57. 6waves Lolapps acquired mobile game maker Escalation Studios.

58. Ascend Acquisition Corp. merged with mobile gaming firm Andover Games in a reverse acquisition.(source:venturebeat


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