Early-stage VC games funding hits 12-month high but growth and later stage investments still “very depressed”

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Early-stage funding from VCs hit a 12-month high in Q2 2024 but that wasn’t enough to pull the industry out of its investment slump, data from a new Konvoy Ventures report shows.

VCs invested $492 million last quarter, almost solely into early-stage companies. That figure was down from $601m in Q1 2024 and from $529m in Q2 2023. It was the lowest level of VC investment in games since Q4 2023 ($332m), and prior to that, Q2 2020 ($418m).

Konvoy Ventures said around 90% or more of funding has been invested into early-stage deals since Q4 2022. It noted that funding for growth and late-stage games companies was “very depressed”.

Overall private games funding hit $690m in Q2, down from $2.2bn in Q1 and $599m in Q2 2023. It should be noted that Q1 figures were largely driven by Disney’s $1.5 billion investment into Fortnite developer Epic Games.

Declining deals

There were 104 gaming VC deals in Q2, down 22% from the previous quarter and 12% from Q2 2023.

Konvoy Ventures said that 22% of VC deals made up 80% of disclosed funding. It claimed this signalled a “well-distributed and healthier investment environment”.

The majority of venture deals in Q2 came from Asia (39), followed by North America at 33 and Europe at 29. Asia took the most funding, accounting for $283m, versus $128m in North America and $78m in Europe.

Funding in Asia was said to be at a 12-month high, while North America saw a 61% decrease in VC investment from the previous quarter.