| Month | Day(s) | Event |
|---|
| January | 4 | Nintendo purchased Canadian video game developer Next Level Games, with the finalizations of the deal being done by March 1. [13] |
| 13 | Lucasfilm revived the Lucasfilm Games brand and announced a new Star Wars game from Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment, terminating the exclusive license held by Electronic Arts for the property. [14] |
| 15 | YoYo Games, the developers of the GameMaker software, were acquired by Opera to help establish an Opera Gaming division. [15] |
| 22 | Vicarious Visions was merged into Blizzard Entertainment with its staff of over 200 becoming employees of Blizzard. [16] |
| 25 | The Carlyle Group completed its acquisition of Jagex. [17] |
| February | 1 | Google shuttered its internal Stadia Games and Entertainment division, with plans to refocus the service as a publisher for third-party games. [18] |
| 2 | Embracer Group acquired Gearbox Software, Aspyr Media, and Easybrain. [19] [20] [21] |
| 9 | The Pokémon Company announced that the World Championships has been canceled due to concerns of COVID-19. [22] |
| 18 | Electronic Arts completed its estimated $1.2 billion acquisition of Codemasters. [23] |
| 19–20 | Blizzard Entertainment held its virtual BlizzCon event. [24] |
| March | 2 | Epic Games acquired Tonic Games Group, including developer Mediatonic. [25] |
| 9 | Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios completed its acquisition of ZeniMax Media and its subsidiary studios. [26] |
| tinyBuild offered its initial public offering on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. [27] |
| 10 | The Roblox Corporation held its direct public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. [28] |
| 16 | Take-Two Interactive acquired HB Studios, which became a part of 2K. [29] |
| 18 | Sony Interactive Entertainment and Endeavor jointly acquired the Evolution Championship Series. [30] |
| Super Nintendo World opens to the public in Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. [31] |
| April | 2 | Focus Home Interactive acquired Streum On Studio. [32] |
| 22 | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosted the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, held as an online livestreamed event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [33] |
| 25 | Colette , a short documentary film co-produced by Oculus and Respawn Entertainment for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond , won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), making it the first Oscar awarded to a video game-related project. [34] |
| 29 | Electronic Arts completed its estimated $2.1 billion acquisition of mobile game developer Glu Mobile. [35] [36] |
| May | 3–24 | The trial for the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit was held. [37] [38] |
| June | 12–15 | E3 2021 was held as an online event. [39] |
| 29 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Housemarque, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. [40] |
| July | 1 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Nixxes Software, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. [41] |
| 15–18 | PAX Online was held after cancelling the planned in-person PAX East event from June. [42] |
| 19 | Tencent announced its acquisition of Sumo Group for $1.3 billion. [43] |
| 19–23 | The Game Developers Conference and Independent Games Festival was held as an online event. [44] [45] |
| 20 | The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) initiated a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard following a two-year investigation asserting the company maintained a hostile workplace that discriminated and harassed female employees, leading to thousands of employees signing onto an open letter and performing a walkout, demanding management take appropriate reaction. [46] [47] |
| August | 3 | Blizzard Entertainment President J. Allen Brack left the company in the wake of the DFEH lawsuit. [48] |
| 5 | Embracer Group acquired eight additional studios, including 3D Realms, Ghost Ship Games and Slipgate Ironworks. [49] |
| Focus Home Interactive acquired Dotemu. [50] |
| 6–8, 13–15 | Evolution Championship Series 2021 was held as an online event. [51] |
| 10 | Krafton completed its initial public offering on the Korea Exchange, with an initial valuation of around $19 billion. [52] |
| 19–21 | Quakecon 2021 was held as an online event. [53] |
| 25–27 | Gamescom 2021 was held as an online event. [54] |
| 30 | China announces a law that restricts people under the age of 18 to play video games only up to 3 hours a week. [55] [56] |
| September | 8 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Firesprite, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. [57] |
| 10 | In Epic Games v. Apple, Apple was given a permanent injunction preventing them from blocking apps that included links to third-party payment systems. [58] |
| 28 | Netflix acquired Night School Studio as its first game studio. [59] |
| 30 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Bluepoint Games, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. [60] |
| 30– | Tokyo Game Show 2021 was held as an online event. [61] |
| October | 3 |
| 7–17 | The International 2021, the tenth iteration of the annual Dota 2 global esports tournament, was held in Bucharest, Romania. It holds the record for the largest esports prize pool of all time at $40 million. [62] |
| 21 | NetEase acquired Grasshopper Manufacture from GungHo Online Entertainment. [63] |
| 28 | Mark Zuckerberg rebrands Facebook as Meta Platforms. Zuckerberg announced that "The Metaverse" will be a hybrid of social media, fitness, gaming, and more. [64] [65] [66] |
| 29 | Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds Entertainment. [67] |
| November | 2 | Netflix launched its video game service via its mobile app for subscribers. [68] |
| 4 | Devolver Digital went public on the Alternative Investment Market and acquired Dodge Roll, Nerial and Firefly Studios. [69] [70] |
| 15 | Take-Two Interactive acquired Roll7, which became a part of Private Division. [71] |
| 16 | G4, the gaming-focused TV network that shut down in 2014, was relaunched on various linear TV and streaming services. [72] |
| 23 | Epic Games acquired Harmonix. [73] |
| December | 9 | The Game Awards 2021 was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. [74] [2] |
| 10 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Valkyrie Entertainment, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. [75] |
| 15 | Embracer Group acquired board game publisher Asmodee. [76] |
| 17 | Tencent acquired Turtle Rock Studios. [77] |
| 21 | Embracer Group acquired Perfect World Entertainment along with its publishing group and Cryptic Studios, [78] as well as Dark Horse Media, the parent company of Dark Horse Comics and Dark Horse Entertainment. [79] |
| 27 | Riot Games agreed to settle its workplace gender discrimination lawsuit with two former employees for $100 million. [80] |
