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The DeanBeat: Measuring the froth of the game industry

Merger mania has come to games, and a big window is open for public offerings in the stock market. That translates to a historic opportunity for the game industry. We’re seeing a stampede to grab the money, which is available because investors have realized that gaming has gone mainstream as a form of entertainment, and it’s a haven during the pandemic.

More than 30 game-focused venture capital funds are investing money in game startups. Public market investors are pouring money into initial public offerings (IPOs), special purpose acquisition corporations (SPACs), and direct listing offerings (DLOs). Tilting Point is pouring user-acquisition money into games so that smaller companies can become the next generation of big companies with major hits. The whole ecosystem is greased so that game startups can grow up and become huge before we know it.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.