Analysis finds one-third of studios acquired since 2000 have closed

Sebastian Cardoso, founder of the indie support service Game Studio Unlocked, published an analysis on November 3 finding that roughly one-third of game studios acquired since 2000 have been closed, according to automaton-media.com. The study covers more than 300 acquired studios, with their status recorded as of October 30, 2026.

Excluding studios that mainly handle co-development, support and porting work, 283 studios remained. Of those, 93, or 32.9%, had been shut down. A further 79 studios, or 27.9%, were classified as Declined under Cardoso's own metrics, which also include Thrived, Stable and Closed.

The analysis measured how quickly closures arrive: among 252 studios, 16.7% were closed within five years of acquisition, and among 139 studios, 36.7% were closed within ten years.

Cardoso named Atlas, FromSoftware, Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch as examples of studios that Thrived, while Visual Arts and Grasshopper Manufacture were cited as Stable. Bungie, Rare and id Software were listed as examples of Declined studios.

Owner-level patterns

At the owner level, all 17 studios acquired by Activision Blizzard recorded closures or sales declines, and all five acquired by Disney were closed. Closure or decline rates reached 89% for THQ, 83% for EA, 80% for Square Enix and 78% for Nacon.

Nintendo, KADOKAWA, Krafton and Sumo Group were listed as owners whose acquired studios were all Stable or Thrived. Cardoso grouped closure-prone owners into three types: the franchise-factory publisher, the debt-fueled roll-up and the media conglomerate. Visual Arts became a Tencent subsidiary in 2023, and Grasshopper Manufacture became independent at the end of September this year.