Key points
- Playside Studios share price reaches a new all-time high of $1.28
- Although the company didn't post an announcement, the gaming industry is abuzz following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard
- Playside recently successfully completed an oversubscribed capital raising of $38 million
The Playside Studios Ltd (ASX: PLY) share price was on fire on Wednesday. This is in absence of any announcements from the company.
At the close, shares in the Australian game developer finished at $1.27, up 18.14%. Earlier in the session, the share price hit $1.28.
It is difficult to pinpoint what moved Playside Studios' share price today. One contributing factor could be a sizeable deal made in the game development industry overnight.
Game development proves its worth in historic day
ASX investors might be paying closer attention to Playside today after a monster-sized deal was put together by the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT). In a history-making deal, the United States technology giant has agreed to pay US$68.7 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI).
While the ASX-listed company has no involvement in the US transaction, it highlights the demand for quality game developer studios. Activision Blizzard is one of the largest and well known for its titles including World of Warcraft, Diablo, Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Candy Crush.
Furthermore, Microsoft chair and CEO Satya Nadella commented on the acquisition, stating:
Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms. We're investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.
Importantly, this signifies Microsoft's optimism towards gaming and metaverse development. These are areas that Playside Studios is deeply involved in.
For example, Playside is engaging with Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) to develop mini-games for Meta's Horizon VR platform. Additionally, the company successfully raised $38 million to accelerate growth opportunities in December. One of these opportunities is the establishment of a dedicated metaverse team.
Playside Studios share price snapshot
The performance of the Playside Studios share price has been nothing short of spectacular. In the last 12 months, the game developer has surged 229% in value. In turn, the company now holds a market capitalisation of $184 million.
Looking at its 12-month chart, we can see the share price gained strong momentum around October 2021. This was around the time the company released its quarterly results. Impressively, this showed revenue had increased by 227% from the prior corresponding period.
Finally, today's gain takes Playside shares to a new all-time high.
