Introduction A time of change, challenge and opportunity The video game industry has established business models in experienced a rollercoaster ride mobile gaming (still the sector’s over the last few years. After slow, biggest vertical). protracted growth during the 2000s The slowdown has reduced and 2010s, things went exponential fundraising and M&A in the sector, in 2020 and 2021 during the with late-stage investments COVID-19 pandemic. significantly suppressed as investors Since the end of the pandemic, lower their risk tolerance and look we’ve seen a contraction for the for better returns. This does though first time in over two decades. This is need to be considered in the wider partly due to a correction after the context of technology M&A, where global lockdowns, but also due to volumes have also dropped to the current macroeconomic challenges lowest level since 2020. like higher inflation and rising interestThough the past two years have rates hitting the global economy. been subdued, prospects for the Industry-specific challenges are sector remain very strong over the also having an impact, with changes medium and long term. The second in mobile privacy policies on iOS half of 2023 saw some of the biggest and Android devices affecting strategic investors return to close 3