The amount of money invested in the video games industry soared during 2021.

That's according to research from Digital Development Management (DDM), which says that $38.5 billion was invested into the sector last year, a 191.7 per cent increase on the $13.2 billion the previous year. The number of deals rose from 406 to 765, too. 

On top of that, $37.6 billion was spent on acquisitions within the games space, representing a 232.7 per cent increase year-on-year. The number of M&As increased from 220 to 325. 

As impressive as this is, it is already dwarfed by the amount of money spent on acquisitions for 2022, which currently stands in excess of $81.4 billion due to Microsoft's expected $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard and Take-Two's $12.7 billion purchase of Zynga.

"2021 was the highest year to date across the value and volume of investments, M&As, and IPOs—it’s the biggest year for the gaming industry," DDM wrote on Twitter.