One in three acquired game studios has closed since 2000, analysis finds

A new analysis of more than 300 acquired game studios found that about one in three has since closed. Half of those closures came within five years of the acquisition, according to research by Sebastian Cardoso, who tracked 303 PC and console studios acquired since 2000.

Cardoso, whose previous roles include Riot, Crytek and EA, published his findings and the underlying dataset in his Game Studio Unlocked newsletter. The analysis found that 60.8% of acquired studios either declined or shut down. Just 71 of the 283 developers included in the census—25.1%—were still making games at or above their previous level without mass layoffs, absorption into a parent company or the loss of their leadership.

The figures depend in part on how decline is defined. Cardoso counts studios that were absorbed by their owners or shifted to support work as having declined, even when their games remained at a similar level. Excluding those cases brings the share that declined or closed down from 60.8% to 51.6%.

The analysis also found differences between buyers. All 17 periods of Activision Blizzard ownership recorded in the study ended in decline or closure, as did every period involving Disney, Midway and Thunderful. EA’s figure was 83%. Nintendo, by contrast, had acquired six studios over 24 years and closed none; Kadokawa, Krafton and Sumo Group also had no closures in the dataset.

Decline or closure was recorded for 63% of Microsoft’s ownership periods, 58% of Sony’s, 50% of Tencent’s and 43% of Embracer’s. Cardoso attributed the variation to whether companies acquire studios to support a larger operation or because they want to own established studios.

Closures have become more frequent in recent years: one acquired studio in the census shut down between 2019 and 2022, compared with 33 since 2023. Among 50 notable independent studios tracked from October 2019 to October 2026, 2% closed, compared with 12.6% of acquired studios. Cardoso cautioned that the independent-studio figure represents a single closure.

Studios founded directly by large companies fared worse in the analysis. Of 56 such studios, 87.5% declined or closed, and 18 of the 34 that shut down had never released a game. NetEase opened eight studios between 2020 and 2023, and all eight have since closed.

Sources: GamesIndustry.biz.