AppLovin announced it was backing off in a statement last night (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz), saying it had instead decided to remain on “its path as the independent market leader”. Unity rejected AppLovin’s bid within a week of it being made, and stated at the time it was “not in the best interests of Unity shareholders”. Unity, which works on one of the world’s most popular game engines, will instead continue its plans to merge with IronSource, an Israeli company focused on app monetisation. 2022 has seen numerous mergers and acquistions in the video games industry, following the eye-opening $7.5bn purchase of Bethesda by Xbox last year. Deals announced so far include Sony’s purchase of Destiny maker Bungie ($3.6bn), Take-Two’s acquisition of mobile giant Zynga ($12.7bn), and Microsoft’s ongoing $68.7bn bid to buy Activision Blizzard - which is now being examined by anti-competition regulators.
