Game producer Sebastian Cardoso says he spent two to three months building a census of PC and console studios acquired by large companies since 2000, covering 303 teams from Naughty Dog to micro-studios.

Per Mezha's report on the research, 60.8% of acquired studios either declined or died outright; one in three was shut down completely, and half of those closures came in under five years.

Only one in four acquired studios came through both producing at or above their old level and institutionally whole. The study also found that who did the acquiring predicted the outcome with high confidence.

Mezha reports that Activision Blizzard tops the list, with all 17 studios it acquired later shut down or severely diminished — a 100% rate. Disney also sits at 100% across five acquisitions, THQ declined 89% of its 18, EA 83% of 18 (recently closing BioWare), and Square Enix 80% of five.

Microsoft, often described as a graveyard for acquired teams, fares comparatively better at 63% of 24 — though recent Xbox restructuring may worsen that. Nintendo sits near the bottom: six acquisitions, zero declines.

Cardoso attributes part of the headline figure to strict criteria; absorbed or reassigned studios count, and without that the 60.8% falls to 51.6%.

Cardoso also examined 50 of the most prominent independent studios and found only 2% had closed, with Larian and CD Projekt RED among the standouts — a striking contrast with the acquired cohort.

Internal studios founded by large publishers fared almost as badly as bought ones: 87.3% declined or shut, and half of those never shipped a single game, according to Mezha.

shattered.io notes the study's limits: the 61% figure bundles fewer sales, lower review scores and closure, and the underlying dataset gaps make it a directional signal rather than settled science.

shattered.io reports that Arkane Lyon, the team behind Dishonored, Deathloop and the upcoming Marvel's Blade, is under a Microsoft divestment plan that would put 217 jobs at risk if the studio closed.

The consultation period was extended by a month, Ubisoft and at least two other bidders have reportedly made offers, and a management buyout has been considered, with a reported December 13 deadline to find a buyer. No closure or finalized deal has been announced.

The studio's fate carries extra weight because its sibling, Arkane Austin, was shut in 2024 a year after Redfall launched — squarely inside the study's five-year early-failure window.