Video Game Developers Raised $5.9B During 2021

2021 alone represented 55% of last five years’ $10.7B total, 43% of the volume

By Kay Bros with Peggy Twardowski

We thought 2020 was a banner year for developers, but 2021 more than doubled down on volume and then nearly quadrupled the value. For 2020, we have currently tracked $1.6B across 122 investments. For 2021, we tracked a total of $5.9B across 270 investments. Two thousand twenty-one blockchain developers alone made up $2.0B of that total across 113 investments, for 42% of the volume and 34% of the value. A strong appetite for games that connect friends and massive communities has continued well past the height of pandemic lockdowns. From Wordle to Halo Infinite, Axie Infinity to Roblox, community-focused game developers got a massive boost this year.

From the beginning of 2017 through the end of 2021, we saw an astonishing $10.7B over 632 investments. 2021 alone represented 55% of the last five years’ value and 43% of the volume. This increase is partly due to blockchain developers, whose $2.0B across 113 investments in 2021 is 125% of all 2020’s developer investments.

Despite the current market uncertainties and crypto winter, as we write this in 2022, we still think it’s important to do a deeper dive and look back at specific influences and trends that contributed to such a momentous year. We’ll look at our methodology, volume, and value trends for blockchain and non-blockchain developers over the past five years with a focus on 2021, early round median investment value trends, and then review the top ten investments and top five investors for game developers over 2021. Keep reading.