The last couple of years have seen some blockbusters deals in the games industry. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is obviously the biggest of them all, but Sony's buyout of Bungie is up there too, and even (relatively) smaller deals, like NetEase's purchase of Quantic Dream or Nacon's takeover of Daedalic, can't be overlooked. And while we on the outside can debate the relative merits of this industry consolidation, GDC's latest State of the Game Industry survey indicates that it's making people who actually work in the business a little nervous.
In 2023, the first year developers were asked their thoughts about industry consolidation, 17% of respondents said they believed "major acquisitions" like Microsoft's takeover of Activision would have a positive impact on the industry. By comparison, only 5% shared that opinion in 2024. The percentage who said these acquisitions will have a negative impact held roughly steady—43% this year, versus 44% in 2023—while those who feel it will have no meaningful impact either way shrunk from 7% in 2023 to just 2% in 2024.
