From hits to unicorns: Venture capital in the videogame industry

This article examines the role of venture capital (VC) in the financialisation of the videogame industry. It analyses investment data to map the political economy of VC in the videogame industry and public-facing industry discourse to explore how VCs frame their investments. Findings show that VC investment is concentrated in scalable, high-growth areas such as mobile gaming, production and distribution infrastructure and emerging technologies like blockchain and AI. Investment is largely early-stage and geographically skewed towards established technology and production hubs. Discursively, VCs position themselves as driving technological innovation and cultural growth, and as playing a key role in shaping the industry’s future. The article contributes to debates on financialisation in the media industries by situating VC as a key (yet underexamined) institutional actor in contemporary game production.