About this episode

Affan Butt discusses the intricacies of gaming mergers and acquisitions, including the challenges faced by founders during the sale process.

Affan Butt has advised on 110+ gaming M&A deals worth $40 billion. He breaks down how game studios actually get sold, what acquirers pay for, and why earnouts wreck founders. We go through a studio acquisition from the founder's side of the table. How M&A processes really start, what due diligence looks like, why inbound corp dev interest is not validation, how bidding wars backfire, and the way earnout structures quietly turn against the people who signed them. 0:00 Loom Games sale to Scopely3:21 What creates FOMO in a deal10:58 Investment banker in gaming 21:14 Supercell story 26:26 Peak Games story 39:03 Private equity in gaming 42:12 Deal timelines48:21 Due diligence53:54 When to say no to a sale 68:10 Why deals fail74:20 Earnouts and incentives86:28 The changing exit landscape94:35 Where the gaming cycle is now

People in this episode

Guest: Affan Butt

Topics covered

• gaming M&A
• studio acquisition
• due diligence
• earnouts
• investment banking
• corporate development
• deal structures

Keywords

• gaming deals
• M&A
• earnouts
• due diligence
• bidding wars
• corporate development
• founders
• investment banking

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aream & Co., Scopely, Supercell, Peak Games

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