Content-focused M&A accelerated during the quarter, while public market revenue jumped 122% year-on-year to $1.3 billion

The number of games industry mergers and acquisitions stayed steady in the third quarter with 54 transactions totalling $57.8 billion, according to investment bank Aream & Co.

This included the completion of the $55 billion leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts, which took place on August 5.

Aream & Co.'s Video Game Market Update saw content-focused M&A accelerate, with 18 control deals for developers and publishers valued at more than $100 million year-to-date.

Deal activity was concentrated in Asia, which included Alibaba's sale of Lingxi Games to Trustar Capital for more than $1.5 billion, Netmarble founder Bang Jun-hyuk's acquisition of Tencent's stake in the company for $270 million, and Sony Music Entertainment's $180 million minority stake in GungHo.

Public market revenue leapt 122% year-on-year to $1.3 billion across 13 deals in Q3 2026. Aream & Co noted more listings in the pipeline, including Catalyst announcing the pricing of its $200 million IPO alongside PlaySimple and Fellowship preparing to go public.

Private investment revenue more than tripled year-on-year to $2.8 billion across 137 deals. Late-stage rounds reached $2.0 billion, the highest since Q4 2021. Seed funding fell to a five-year low as capital shifted to Series A funding.

Looking at consumer spending, PC sustained double-digit growth led by co-op and indie titles, including new IP Wardogs, which generated $103 million in Q3, according to data from Alinea Analytics.

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynched came in second at $55 million, followed by Dazed Games' How to Fish at $11 million.

Mobile in-app purchases declined 7% YoY to $19.6 billion due to a smaller install base, though Turkish and Asian publishers continued to gain shares.

Console segment revenue dropped 12% YoY to $14.1 billion, which Aream & Co described as "the steepest drop in two years", marked by declines across all three platforms. Nintendo was down 18%, followed by Xbox at 10% and PlayStation at 9%.

Recent data from Circana found that in the US specifically, hardware unit sales fell 15% year-on-year to 559,000 in August, the lowest August total since 2013.

FC27 was the top-grossing release on console, having moved 4.9 million units during the quarter, followed by NBA 2K27 at 2.4 million and Wolverine at 2.1 million.

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