M2 MONITOR: Feb 4, 2022
This week we had earning results and more acquisitions:
- Meta shares plunge on weak earnings
- Sony acquires Bungie for $3.6 billion
- Microsoft cancels further work on Hololens 3
- Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund acquires 5% of Capcom and Nexcom worth $1 billion
- Unity, AMD, Electronic Art, Konami issue latest earning results
- Apple granted patent on computer-generated reality
INDUSTRY NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF: Feb 4, 2022
Amber opens new studio in Ukraine
Azarus raises $4M for League of Legends trivia game overlay
Lost Lake Games raises $5M in seed funding round
Netmarble says 70% of upcoming lineup will use blockchain
Sony buys Bungie, developer of Destiny and original creator of Halo
Saudi acquires 5% stake in Capcom and Nexon gaming firms worth $1bn
The New York Times acquires Wordle
Tilting Point acquires AstroKings developer AN Games
TLM Partners acquires Heroes & Generals business operations
Voldex raises $3M to continue expansion of its Roblox-based games
A Closer Look at the Gaming Sector and its Future in the Metaverse
Create & Sell NFT Fashion For AR & The Metaverse
GameStop launches NFT marketplace on Immutable X, creates $100M dev fund
Meta launches Presence Platform Interaction SDK Experimental for developers
Nike Sues StockX for Selling Unauthorized Sneaker NFTs
South Korea’s Naver Z launches $100M fund for metaverse creators
Jio Platforms invests $15 mn in AI, VR startup Two Platforms
Meta: $1 Billion Spent In Quest Store, 8 Titles Surpass $20 Million In Revenue
Meta Adds Personal Boundary To Horizon Worlds & Venues As Default
Meta Launches Improved 3D Avatars, Expands Avatar Use to Instagram
Microsoft reportedly ends work on HoloLens 31
Mozilla is shutting down its VR web browser, Firefox Reality
New report sheds light on future of Microsoft’s AR strategy now that HoloLens 3 is ‘canceled’
INVESTMENT INDEX FOR THE WEEK OF: Feb 4, 2022
| DATE | TYPE | COMPANY | INVESTORS – ACQUIRERS | AMOUNT (M) | CATEGORY | FOCUS | CITY |
| 2/1/22 | Investment | AppQuantum | Playrix | – | Games | Mobile | Moscow |
| 2/1/22 | Investment | Azarus | Galaxy Digital, Animoca Brands, and Kleiner Perkins | $4.0 | Games | Trivia Games | San Francisco |
| 2/1/22 | Acquisition | Wordle | The New York Times | – | Games | Casual | |
| 2/1/22 | Investment | Midnite | The Raine Group, others | $16.0 | Games | Esports Betting | London |
| 2/1/22 | Investment | Lost Lake Studio | Bitkraft Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Moon Holdings, 1Up Ventures. | $5.0 | Games | Development | Seattle |
| 2/1/22 | Investment | Spire Animation | Epic Games and Connect Ventures, investment partnership formed by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) | $20.0 | Metaverse | Content | Los Angeles |
| 2/1/22 | Acquisition | PlayKids | SandBox | – | Education | Online Learning | Campinas |
| 2/3/22 | Acquisition | AN Games | Tilting Point | – | Games | Developer | |
| 2/4/22 | Acquisition | Empfohlem.de | Exmox | – | Games | Consumer Platform | Hamburg |
| Source: M2 Insights | |||||||
