Video Game Investment Banking / PE / VC
What are some of the top sellside and buyside players in the video game / digital media space? Very interested in both video games and digital entertainment (Netflix). My current understanding of the financial landscape - please let me know if I'm off on any of these:
Investment Banking:
- LionTree
- Raine
- Aream
- Morgan Stanley - Media & Communications
- Barclays - Communications & Media
- PJT Partners - hired former CSO of Activision Blizzard to LA office
- Goldman Sachs - video game advisory group within TMT
PE / VC/HF:
- Insight Partners
- Griffin Gaming Partners - partnered with LionTree
- Ashler Capital - video game & internet group
Otherwise, information on the space seems quite sparse - if anyone has any direct experiences or information, it would be appreciated.
Bump
How good is Barclays C&M in general, also? Both comms and media side?
I think I’ve seen video game stuff a lot from MoCo. Some from MS LA and I am not too sure much from the others other than 1 off because it isn’t the biggest space I don’t think nor are there too many big names
Think that makes sense - there's a big disconnect between inventors / content creators and financiers in the video game / digital media space. Very much a strategics-driven field from what I can see with a lot of non-banked processes involving larger corps buying basically one-off studios with 1 game in their portfolio.
No clue about Barc C&M unfortunately.
Ashler Capital
How’s the video gaming advisory practice at GS?
Is that part of TMT?
Yes
Any insight on Makers Fund?
PJT has a track record in the space - they also hired the former head of strategy at Activision Blizzard
Any additional details? I've heard PJT M&A leans towards Media & Telecom transactions but not a lot more info than that.
Maybe I sound like an old millennial but I really despise how much micro-transactions are being done in gaming. I'd imagine a lot of this has to do with PE/VC funds investing and a lot of finance/business minds joining the industry like Bobby Kotick (despise him as a person but business wise, he's done a lot of intelligent strategic moves that have made him a very wealthy man, $500M+). Anyone else miss the days of the late 2000s/early 2010s? So many good sports/FPS games back then (COD MW series + Black Ops, NBA 2k10-2k12, also mid-late 2000s college football/Madden were fire)
EDIT: Jagex is probably one of the best modeled gaming company IMO atm. It's privately owned by Carlyle but their model is very interesting. Very player friendly. Their F2P has always been pretty decent and I've heard their members gameplay has become far less grindy (for low-mid level players and heard the endgame content is fantastic - know quite a few 10+ year RS players who play on and off which is super rare for friends I had in other MMPORGS where they eventually quit). Steady gaming population. Games like FF14 beat them out but likely have a much higher budget.
Rise of microtransactions has nothing to do with PE/VC activity (which remains extremely limited in the area). It was just a natural evolution of video game monetization in the era of subscriptions / software.
I think you have some rose-tinted nostalgia glasses on, tbh. I wouldn't go far as to say it's the golden era of video games, but there's orders of magnitude more options for consumers now. As good as the original MW was, it's objectively a worse player experience than the new MW (can't comment on Cold War or Vanguard). Beyond that, there's literally thousands of amazing indie / small games that were relatively inaccessible back in the day to the broader audience.
Not fully true but I only mean this comment to add some historical color - after the bare minimum initial success w/ microtransactions on mobile and with a couple of AAAs, usually this is a conditional part of financing for many games - have to have mobile, have to have microtransactions.
Micro transactions sustain the freemium model, which has the lowest barriers to entry for new players. For me best part of gaming has always been playing with friends and it’s a lot easier to do that when you do not each have to spend $60 to get a quality game.
VC / growth universe, no particular order:
Gaming is often covered by strategic players, here the top dogs:
... any many more.
Zelnick Media
Anthos Capital
Heard Morgan Stanley LA is pretty involved in esports
Et quidem expedita neque voluptatibus est qui facere. Impedit expedita aut est sed libero eum. Iste exercitationem nesciunt aut dignissimos perferendis voluptatibus.
Quae quas odio nemo est doloribus. Qui praesentium est labore id alias iusto.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...