🚀 From GTA to Royal Match: The $1.2B Take-Two Diaspora

Take-Two Interactive built its empire on Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, and NBA 2K. But when its alumni strike out on their own, the biggest wins don’t come from AAA blockbusters—they come from mobile.

Since 2020, ex-Take-Two veterans have launched 23 studios, raising $1.2B+ across 38 rounds. The scorecard is clear:

📱 Mobile dominance — Dream Games (ex-Peak) hit a reported $5B valuation with Royal Match. Spyke Games ($105m) and Ace Games ($32m) solidify Istanbul as a hub for mobile puzzle games.

🎮 AAA struggles — Build A Rocket Boy raised $287m but faced layoffs after MindsEye underperformed. Even Rockstar Games' pedigree doesn’t guarantee GTA-scale outcomes.

📊 Investor behavior — $671m went to mobile alumni vs. $325m to PC & Console. Median early-stage checks are bigger and faster for mobile ($5.7m vs. $4.8m).

The paradox: Take-Two’s heritage was built on AAA, but its alumni’s billion-dollar outcomes are coming from Zynga and Peak’s mobile DNA.

👉 Full breakdown, data, and charts — check the fresh GDEV feature:

https://investgame.net/news/beyond-rockstar-how-take-two-alumni-built-billion-dollar-studios/

🚨 Electronic Arts (EA) Goes Private in a $55B Blockbuster

Electronic Arts — the publisher behind FIFA/EA SPORTS FC, Madden, The Sims, Battlefield — is leaving public markets in a $55B all-cash buyout by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners.

📊 Deal Terms

$210 per share in cash (~25% premium, $55B EV)
~$36B equity + $20B debt (J.P. Morgan financing)
Closing expected Q1 FY27
Andrew Wilson stays as CEO

⚽ Why it matters

For PIF, football is the crown jewel: EA SPORTS FC is the global interactive gateway to the world’s 1 sport. Add Madden + F1 and you’ve got dominance across U.S. and global sports.

For EA, this means freedom from quarterly Wall St. pressure, a chance to double down on live services, and space to take creative bets.

⚡ The bigger picture

This is now the largest all-cash private equity–backed take-private ever, second only to Microsoft’s $68.7B Activision deal in gaming.

It shows how sovereign and PE capital are turning gaming into a core asset class — treating franchises like EA SPORTS FC not just as games, but as cultural infrastructure.

Saudi is playing this masterfully, stitching together a global sports-entertainment empire (Scopely in mobile, Niantic, Inc. in AR, now EA at the center).

⚠️ Risks & questions

— Can EA break out of its dependence on a handful of sports IPs?
— Will a highly leveraged buyout pressure underperforming studios (esp. mobile)?
— How does the industry adapt as another major publisher disappears from public markets, reducing transparency?

💬 What do you think — smart long-term move for EA, or the end of an era of independence?

https://investgame.net/news/ea-exits-the-public-arena-in-record-55b-private-buyout/

Touchdown in Türkiye next week 🇹🇷 — ready to dive into the country’s powerhouse gaming scene at Mobidictum!

If you’re around Istanbul on Oct 21, come find me on the Red Stage (Day 1, 14:30) — we’ll be talking where the money’s flowing, what investors really look for, and how publishers fit into the mix.

Let’s skip the small talk and get straight to the deals. 🚀

https://mobidictum.com/events/mobidictum-conference-2025/

Straight outta Mobidictum to this. Not all of you know, but before games, I spent 5 years at MAXIM interviewing Hollywood actors and various musicians. Well, recently I got to dust off those skills.

Games. Metal. Mechs. What else do you really need in life?

Had the absolute pleasure of talking with the legendary Sabaton during their visit to our MY.GAMES office in beautiful Cyprus — right before the launch of the new War Robots x Sabaton collaboration.

The Fire Storm event (Oct 28–Dec 9) brings their new track A Tiger Among Dragons straight into the game’s hangar, alongside a themed visual overhaul inspired by the Legends album. It’s a perfect match — steel, fire, and battle.

As someone who loves both games and rock’n’roll, this one hit all the right notes. Huge congrats to Pixonic and MY.GAMES teams for pulling off such an authentic and loud partnership.

🤘 Long live heavy metal — and long live giant robots.

https://gameinformer.com/exclusive/2025/10/23/metal-band-sabaton-talks-collaboration-with-war-robots