Our data digest column breaks down the latest data, research and financial results into digestible chunks.
Read on for the numbers you need to know about minus the fluff.
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FC Mobile grows amid overall EA revenue decline
As expected, EA posted disappointing Q325 results yesterday, with a drop-off in revenue from the console/PC edition of EA FC and the underperformance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard mostly to blame.
The mobile edition of EA FC was a bright spot, though. “The softer-than-expected results in HD was only partially offset by continued growth in FC Mobile,” said EA, which added that FC Mobile saw a “double-digit increase in new players, engagement, and monetization year-over-year”.
EA’s net bookings in mobile for the quarter were down YoY by 2% to $300m, with overall net bookings dropping from $2.37bn to $2.22bn YoY, a 6% drop.
Royal Match maker reportedly in talks to raise $2.5bn
Dream Games is exploring a $2.5bn debt and equity raise, Bloomberg reports. According to its sources, the Royal Match maker has enlisted Goldman Sachs to sound out potential investors, with the aim of securing half of the money in debt from private credit lenders and the other half in equity capital.
The financing would enable the Istanbul-based developer to buy out existing outside investors, including notable VC firms, and value it at nearly $5bn – up from its $2.75bn valuation in 2022.
Dream Games’ co-founders reportedly want to retain 70% of the company after the raise, with the rest being held by a separate equity partner.
Stillfront takes ~$630m restructuring hit
Stillfront has taken an impairment charge of SEK 6.9bn (~$630m) for the fourth quarter. The impairment write-down of goodwill is attributed to its North American business, and comes after the company decided to divide its operations and reporting into three parts, the others being its European and MENA/APAC business areas.
It also announced its preliminary Q4 results, in which net revenue declined by 5% year-over-year to SEK 1.66bn ($150.2m), while gross profit fell by 3% to SEK 1.32bn ($119.4m). Stillfront said these declines were fully offset by lower fixed costs and reduced development costs, resulting in adjusted EBITDAC of SEK 410m ($37.1m), which was up 12% year-over-year.
Laton Ventures raises $50m
Istanbul-based firm Laton Ventures has raised $50m, Gamesbeat reports. It’ll continue to seek investments in pre-seed and seed-stage gaming startups as well as non-games companies, and as we’ve reported before, was among the investors in Magic Sort and Car Match maker Grand Games recently.
The VC firm launched with a $35m warchest in April 2024.
Apple posts record services revenue of $26bn
Apple has reported its “best quarter ever”, with total revenue of $124.3bn for the three months ended December 28, 2024, up 4% year-over-year. Products revenue for its Q1 increased 1.66% to $97.96bn, while services revenue was up 13.9% to $26.34bn.
During an earnings call listened to by TechCrunch, Apple CEO Tim Cook said services generated almost $100bn in revenue over the past year. The company also reported having over 1bn subscriptions across its services, including third-party apps available through the App Store.
Embracer’s mobile sales up 1.6%, but EBIT fell 34.5%
Embracer has announced preliminary results for its third quarter ended in December. In a trading update ahead of the publication of its full results on February 13, it said net sales from mobile games rose 1.6% year-over-year to SEK 1.67bn ($151.1m), while adjusted EBIT from its mobile segment declined by 34.5% to SEK 400m ($36.2m).
Overall, Embracer’s net sales for the quarter rose by 2% year-over-year to SEK 12.29bn ($1.1bn). Adjusted EBIT declined by about 1% to SEK 2.12bn ($192m), thanks to the stronger-than-expected performance of its PC/console games and tabletop games segments. The Swedish firm sold Cyprus-based mobile developer Easybrain to Miniclip for $1.2bn during the quarter.
Mobile to represent 55% of games revenue in ’25
Game software revenues are expected to hit $203.2bn in 2025, with mobile accounting for 54.6% ($110.9bn) of the total, according to Midia Research. That’s up from $194.7bn in 2024, when mobile generated 55.5% ($108.1bn) of the total.
Mobile’s share of overall software revenues is forecast to “steadily decrease towards 2031” when it will account for 52.3% ($124bn) of the $237bn total.
Mobile revenue up 4% in 2024, but downloads drop 6%
Mobile game net revenues in 2024 increased by 4% year-over-year to reach $56.7bn across iOS and Google Play, according to a new Omdia report (paid subscription required). That’s despite game downloads falling for the fourth consecutive year, with a 6% year-over-year decline to 49.6bn.
“Decreasing downloads partially is attributed to the maturing ecosystem, with the bulk of the play time being captured by the existing top titles,” said Omdia analyst George Jijiashvili. “Importantly, many of the top publishers have shown a great deal of continued innovation in driving engagement and revenue – through things like improved monetisation mechanics, flow/quality of game updates, and localisation.”
Gaming deals jumped 21% in 2024
The number of announced M&A deals in the games industry in 2024 rose 21% year-over-year, according to Drake Star. There were 198 announced deals last year, which was up from 163 in 2023, although the disclosed value of the deals was flat year-over-year at $10.5bn.
PC/console was again the most active M&A segment with 53 deals, ahead of mobile with 38 and platform/tools with 32. However, mobile accounted for $4.1bn (39%) of total disclosed deal value, ahead of PC/console at $1.9bn (18%) and platform/tools at $1.1bn (10%).
