Public game companies by the (really big) numbers
New report puts total value of public game companies at $111.2 billion in 2011
A new report from Avista Partners shows that, while 2011 saw plenty of hand wringing, worried frowns and whispers about another recession, it also boasted some pretty impressive numbers. Like that the total value of all public game companies is now a rap star sized $111.2 billion.
Break that total down in to categories and $39.7 billion came from PC and console (not including Nintendo), $37.6 billion from online, $17.3 billion from Nintendo and $11.8 billion from mobile. What's interesting is how close the categories come, online proving a real rival for more traditional PC and console titles, and mobile, typically seen as the realm of the casual gamer, not too far behind traditional gaming manufacturer and publisher Nintendo.
Last year there were 492 deals worth more than $9.6 billion. For those of you with Rainman style number skills that's about 1.3 a day, and online games made up more than 70 per cent of those deals.
Online was on top in the capital raised awards as well, of the $5.2 billion raised in 2011 it snapped up 69.8 per cent. For the $2.1 billion in venture capital raised, online snapped up $1.3 billion, a record for the sector. It was the same for mergers and acquisitions, $4.4 billion worth of deals, with 71.5 per cent for online.
So you work in online? Have a gold star. You work in mobile development? You can have silver, because the mobile game index had the best performing sector index, showing a result of +45.9 per cent.
The full 2011 report is available here.
Some of the figures in this article were initially incorrect. Data has now been double-checked and updated.