InvestGame tracked 11 deals worth $248.5m this week. 4 closed. Below are the top 8, plus a fund close and three updates on earlier deals, marked [UPD].
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
[UPD] China-based multiplatform games developer and publisher Kingnet Network (SZSE: 002517) is acquiring 49% of Neosphere for $298.0m. Neosphere is the Hong Kong holding company behind NeoPulse, which is buying a controlling stake in South Korea-based games developer Wemade (KOSDAQ: 112040), covered in Jul’26. Wemade develops and publishes MMORPGs, including Night Crows and Legend of Ymir, and licenses its Legend of Mir IP to other publishers. The other 51% of Neosphere stays with the seller, Nexpulse, a separate vehicle of Hong Kong investor Mok Pui Ming, who remains NeoPulse’s controlling owner. The funds pay for NeoPulse’s purchase of founder Park Kwan-ho’s 39.33% stake, due to complete on Oct 30, 2026, and give Kingnet an indirect ~19.7% of Wemade. After that closing, Nexpulse will seek an exclusive Legend of Mir license from Wemade, with the territory and term still to be agreed, for Neosphere to pass on to Kingnet, and will compensate Kingnet if that fails due to its own fault.
[UPD] The management buyout tender offer for Japan-based outsourcing company Digital Hearts Holdings (TSE: 3676) by Sandbox, a vehicle wholly owned by founder and representative chairman Eiichi Miyazawa, has succeeded. Shareholders tendered 11.19 million shares, including 500,000 of Miyazawa’s own, at JPY 1,060 per share, the price set in Aug’26, for JPY 11.86B ($75.4m). That takes Sandbox to 50.17%, and Sandbox and Miyazawa together to 90.20%. Settlement starts Sep 30, 2026. A squeeze-out at the same price follows, after which Sandbox will hold 59.97%, and Miyazawa will hold the remaining 40.03%. Digital Hearts provides game debugging, localization and quality assurance, as well as enterprise software testing through its AGEST unit. On the day it announced the buyout, Digital Hearts also agreed to take over the game-debugging business of Japan-based outsourcing company IMAGICA GEEQ, a subsidiary of IMAGICA GROUP (TSE: 6879), from Nov 1, 2026.
Denmark-based mobile games developer Trophy Games (CPH: TGAMES) is acquiring France-based mobile games developer Playrion from Sweden-based games publisher Paradox Interactive (STO: PDX) for $2.6m (EUR 2.25m) in cash upfront, plus an earn-out of 9% of Playrion’s net revenue for the three years after closing. It is Trophy Games’ largest acquisition to date, funded from existing cash. The Paris studio has ~30 staff and ~$4.6m (EUR 4.0m) in annual revenue from the airline management sim Airlines Manager and the airport tycoon game Airport Simulator: First Class. Paradox acquired Playrion in 2020. Trophy Games plans a new simulation series using the Airport Simulator technology, the approach it took with the airline management game Airline Manager 4, which it acquired in 2021.
US-based mobile games publisher Scopely, owned by Savvy Games Group, has made a strategic investment of an undisclosed size in China-based games developer Bokura through its Singapore-based arm, Scopely South East Asia, completed on Sep 23, 2026. Founded in Shanghai in 2021 by Chen Min, who led the development of the action MMORPG Dragon Nest Mobile, the ~150-person studio is developing the open-world MMORPG Blue Protocol: Star Resonance for PC and mobile, built on IP licensed from Bandai Namco (TSE: 7832). Tencent (SEHK: 700) has held 20% since the founding round in 2021. In Dec’24 Scopely bought Project Comet, a game based on Marvel IP in development at Chengfeng Studio of Perfect World (SZSE: 002624), for $34.5m and took a minority stake in the team’s new company.
[UPD] US-based PC & Console games developer Undead Labs has closed its separation from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and now operates as an independent, employee-owned studio that keeps its IP, back catalog and runway funding. Microsoft announced the divestment in Jul’26 alongside ~3,200 Xbox job cuts. Founded in Seattle in 2009, the studio makes the open-world zombie survival series State of Decay, and State of Decay 3 will launch day one on Xbox Game Pass through a new publisher. UK-based Splash Damage had been in talks to acquire the studio before that deal fell through.
VENTURE FINANCING
Türkiye-based mobile games developer Circle Games has raised $25m in a Series A led by Tencent (SEHK: 700), with participation from existing investors a16z Speedrun, APY Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures and e2vc. The round brings total funding to $32.25m after a $7.25m Seed round led by BITKRAFT in Jul’25. Since then, the studio has launched the 3D sorting puzzle Sort Express globally and released the puzzle game Jelly Escape, going from a pre-launch prototype to eight-figure revenue in one year, according to BITKRAFT partner Jasper Brand. The funds will take Jelly Escape into new markets and at least double headcount. Circle Games was founded in 2024 by CEO Göktürk Balıkcı, CPO Mustafa Özdemir, Mehmet Ay and Arda Özarslan.
US-based mobile games developer Topdog has raised $2.5m in a Seed round led by Boston Seed Capital, with participation from The Raine Group, Bullpen Capital, Versus Ventures, Spoondrift Capital and Permit Ventures. The round brings total funding to $4.1m after a $1.6m pre-Seed round from Lightspeed Venture Partners. Topdog makes real-money skill games in which players compete against each other in real time rather than against the house, including the multiplayer basketball game Basketball Hustle. The funds go to user acquisition and new multiplayer sports titles. Topdog was founded by Aman Agarwal and Jatin Narang.
Italy-based corporate training platform Gamindo has raised $1.6m (EUR 1.4m) in a Seed round from Club degli Investitori, Vento Ventures, Doorway and Zanichelli Venture. Gamindo turns training courses into interactive, game-based modules for more than 50 corporate clients. Angel investors include King co-founder Riccardo Zacconi, former Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CFO Luca Maestri and the four co-founders of Bending Spoons. The funds go to product and sales hires and international expansion.
China-based games developer Feijiu Technology has raised an undisclosed sum from Lilith Games and another investor. Founded in Guangzhou in 2026 by Dai Yanqi, a long-time lead designer on the PC MMORPG Fantasy Westward Journey at NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES), and former NetEase colleague Sun Qinying, the studio is building a self-evolving, AI-driven virtual world.
PUBLIC OFFERINGS
Sweden-based games publisher Embracer Group (STO: EMBRAC B) has secured a $203.9m (SEK 2.0B) revolving credit facility with a two-year term and an option to extend by two more years, arranged by SEB (STO: SEB A) as coordinating mandated lead arranger with DNB (OSE: DNB), Nordea (HEL: NDA FI) and Swedbank (STO: SWED A). The facility replaces several bilateral loans with different maturities and terms, at a lower credit margin. Embracer plans to replace it after the spin-off of Fellowship Entertainment, its AAA and licensing arm, planned for 2027. As of Jun 30, 2026, Embracer held $509.4m (SEK 5.0B) in cash against $155.5m (SEK 1.5B) of liabilities.
Japan-based mobile games developer Drecom (TSE: 3793) has secured a $12.6m (JPY 2.0B) unsecured three-year syndicated term loan from seven lenders, arranged by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The loan, to be drawn on Sep 30, 2026, runs until Sep'29 and will fund working capital. Its covenant requires Drecom to avoid a consolidated net loss in two consecutive fiscal years, starting with the year ending Mar'27. Drecom develops smartphone games, including the dungeon RPG Wizardry Variants Daphne.
FUNDRAISING
US-based VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners has closed $5.75B across two funds: $1.75B for Seed and early-stage investments and $4.0B for growth. In games, Bessemer has backed the mobile developer Wildlife Studios, the chat platform Discord, the fantasy football game Sorare, the Roblox (NYSE: RBLX) developer Gamefam and the Türkiye-based puzzle studio Good Job Games. Its games exits include Scopely, sold to Savvy Games Group for $4.9B in 2023, and Twitch, acquired by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) in 2014.
Public Market Performance
It was a flat week for the tracked universe: of 62 eligible companies, 30 rose, 31 fell, and 1 was flat, with a median move of -0.1%, over the Friday Sep 18 to Friday Sep 25 window.
Share Price Signals
Remedy Entertainment (+10.00%) rose into the Sep 24 launch of the action-adventure Control Resonant, which passed 34,000 concurrent players on Steam, about four times the peak of the original Control, and reached second place on Steam's global bestseller chart behind EA Sports FC 27. The game had 88% positive user reviews on Steam and a 9.6/10 rating on the PlayStation Store. Before launch, it had drawn more than 2 million Steam wishlists.
Tencent (+4.20%) rose after it launched its Hy Image 3.5 Preview image-generation model on Sep 22 and added it to the Yuanbao chatbot and its video-editing and design tools. Shares in Hong Kong gained more than 5% that day as Alibaba held its annual AI conference.
iDreamSky Technology (-11.25%) fell after it was dropped from the S&P Global BMI index in the quarterly rebalance reported on Sep 20.
Nintendo (-6.79%) fell as UBS downgraded the stock from Neutral to Sell on Sep 25 and cut its price target to JPY 5,500 from JPY 7,800. The -6.79% is for the US ADR (OTC: NTDOY) in dollars; the Tokyo shares (TSE: 7974), which UBS covers, fell 2.87% over the week, and the ADR also reflects the yen’s move against the dollar. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage at Neutral on Sep 22.
tinyBuild (-5.66%) fell after its H1’26 results on Sep 24: revenue rose 18% to $20.0m on catalog sales and new launches, but gross profit slipped to $9.8m from $10.4m and adj. EBITDA fell to $3.2m from $4.2m, as royalties on second-party releases and launch marketing rose. The company kept its view that full-year results will be ahead of expectations.
Earnings Calendar: The Week Ahead
