A new study by Sebastian Cardoso, an executive with over 20 years of experience in the video game industry, indicates that one-third of development teams acquired by larger companies since 2000 have eventually been shut down.
The study is based on 362 development teams, and according to its results, 45 teams (12.4%) improved their conditions after the acquisition, while 99 teams (27.3%) continued the same performance after it, while 95 teams (26.2%) experienced a decline in performance, and 123 teams (34.0%) were shut down. Accordingly, 218 teams, or 60.2% of the acquired teams, saw their conditions worsen.
Activision Blizzard topped the list in terms of closures, having shut down 17 development teams during the mentioned period, followed by Thunderful and Disney. In stark contrast, we find companies like Nintendo, which did not close any of the teams it acquired.
