The year of the deal? Game industry already has more than $5B in mergers and acquisitions in 2014

The game industry is consolidating faster than ever before as major companies in Asia and North America continue to make deals to absorb more value.

In the first quarter of 2014, the game industry has already had more than $5 billion in mergers and acquisitions, according to a new report from investment bank Digi-Capital. That nearly matches 2013’s full-year total of $5.6 billion. These moves are coming from American companies (like Facebook and Zynga) and Asian investors (such as Tencent and Softbank). Mobile developers continue to attract the most interest, but tech startups and developers of PC massively multiplayer online games were also major targets. Gamers spent $16 billion on mobile gaming alone in 2013. That number is likely going to grow throughout this year, and acquisitions offer major companies a quick way to capture that spending.