{"id":607536,"date":"2023-02-13T07:49:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T13:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/13\/how-the-so-called-q5-bump-could-impact-ma-activity-in-mobile-gaming\/"},"modified":"2023-02-13T07:49:24","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T13:49:24","slug":"how-the-so-called-q5-bump-could-impact-ma-activity-in-mobile-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/13\/how-the-so-called-q5-bump-could-impact-ma-activity-in-mobile-gaming\/","title":{"rendered":"How the so-called Q5 bump could impact M&A activity in mobile gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"
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February 13, 2023\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a03 min read<\/span> | By Alexander Lee<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For the third year in a row, the mobile gaming industry experienced a significant bump in installs and in-app purchases in December and January \u2014 and this time around, the boosted numbers are bolstering an industry poised for a run of M&A activity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experts in the mobile gaming space often refer to the December\u2013January holiday season as \u201cQ5\u201d \u2014 an unofficial fifth fiscal quarter that consistently heralds a large spike in mobile gaming revenue. In December, mobile app installs grew across the board<\/a>, but games benefited in particular due to their use for holiday leisure-time fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In December 2022, mobile gaming installs were 5 percent higher than the average for H2 2022, with that figure increasing to 22 percent in January 2023, according to data shared with Digiday by Adjust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere could certainly be some behaviors and patterns that emerge during this time period that favor gaming more,\u201d said Hank Patton, CEO of the mobile game studio Random Logic Games. \u201cCertainly more than a productivity kind of app would expect, when people aren\u2019t working and are home trying to take a break.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rise in mobile gaming installs in December was followed by a boost in in-app purchases in January. In-app mobile gaming purchases last month were 12 percent higher than the H2 2022 average, according to Adjust\u2019s data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kind of increase in net revenue that we see comes as a result of rapidly acquiring users at a much lower cost than was available for the last six weeks before the Q5 period,\u201d Patton said.<\/p>\n

In a gaming industry in which consumer spending decreased by five percent<\/a> in 2022, mobile gaming is on the rise \u2014\u00a0and its best numbers for the year have come in over the last two months. As gaming companies and tech firms alike look to expand their inventory and weather the recession, these improved numbers \u201ccertainly could be used\u201d to shore up mobile gaming studios\u2019 acquisition dreams, according to Patton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe high-level rationales are going to continue to be what EA<\/a> and Take-Two<\/a> did, in terms of expanding their mobile footprint, because the market favors diversification across platforms,\u201d said Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer of the mobile game developer FunPlus. \u201cMuch like the movie business, you have to have scale in order to weather the downturns, and also to be able to invest in future growth \u2014\u00a0and we\u2019re seeing that bearing itself now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The potential for M&A activity is welcome news to smaller mobile gaming studios, who often expand with an eye towards future acquisitions. And the Q5 bump to mobile gaming revenues is evidence that the best way for mobile game developers to get snapped up might just be to keep doing what they\u2019re doing.\u00a0Whether they get acquired or not, 2023 is shaping up to be a good year for mobile gaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur CEO has built the company to sell sometime; we have to exit sometime,\u201d said Berkay Celik, director of strategy for the mobile game studio Ace Games. \u201cBut we do not have plans on this now, because we\u2019re focused on the product.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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