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Analyst expects Sony to react to Xbox’s Activision deal with a major acquisition of its own | VGC

Microsoft purchased the Call of Duty maker for $69 billion last week…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Sony Interactive Entertainment could respond to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard with a major deal of its own.

That’s according to Ampere Analysis’ games research director Piers Harding-Rolls, who believes the PlayStation maker “is under pressure to react” to Xbox’s mega deal.

“Sony surely is under pressure to react, even after their Bungie acquisition,” Harding-Rolls told GamesIndustry.biz. “I expect further investments and acquisitions for PlayStation, including a large one that would move the needle for them in a meaningful way.”

 

[Gaiff]

Go to a war of acquisitions with a trillion dollar company.

Sounds like a smart plan.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Sony will respond with the Spider-Man 2 release that will sell 25+ million copies and take PS5 console sales and revenue to new heights, and let's be honest, considering how things are going, even that would be more than enough.

 

[Xyphie]

Ubisoft will get acquired by someone at only €3.75B market cap so probably them.

 

[StereoVsn]

Square Enix or Sega would make a lot of sense. Not crazy money but a ton of interesting IPs and potential as long as they keep them in check.

Personally I would rather these stayed independent though.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Takashi did post this tweet about Squeenix stock hitting rock bottom so maybe Sony will get on that. I do much prefer an independent Square Enix though.

 

[Camreezie]

Square enix , Capcom or Sega make the most sense surely. Microsoft seem like theyd go for Ubisoft as they have marketing deals with a lot of the tentpole Ubisoft games too

 

[Snowdonhoffen]

Do it Jimbo, get your own career moment before retirement.

 

[StereoVsn]

Takashi did post this tweet about Squeenix stock hitting rock bottom so maybe Sony will get on that. I do much prefer an independent Square Enix though.

I mean good time to buy before next FFVIIR2 and DQXII releases.

But yeah, I would rather SE stayed independent, as Sony would surely cut those mid-tier AA games.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Go to a war of acquisitions with a trillion dollar company.

Sounds like a smart plan.

I don't see what's really left anymore, even the activision buyout was way overpriced.

Sega? Skeleton of what they used to be
Ubisoft? Meme at this point
Rockstar? Rockstar's very expensive, ~$23B, Sony hasn't shown that kind of commitment.
Square-Enix is holding dwindling franchises that keep alienating customers whatever decision they make, and the whole management is basically to kick off the door as soon as you buy.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Square enix , Capcom or Sega make the most sense surely. Microsoft seem like theyd go for Ubisoft as they have marketing deals with a lot of the tentpole Ubisoft games too

Microsoft has been restricted from buying Ubisoft for the next 10 years. That period can also be extended if the CMA wants to extend it.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Go to a war of acquisitions with a trillion dollar company.

Sounds like a smart plan.

there are ways

 

[Represent.]

Square enix , Capcom or Sega make the most sense surely. Microsoft seem like theyd go for Ubisoft as they have marketing deals with a lot of the tentpole Ubisoft games too

None of those would move any sort of needle. Call of Duty alone is more valuable than all those publishers combined.

They need Take 2 to actually reply. GTA is the only thing that would offset COD.

 

[saintjules]

Go to a war of acquisitions with a trillion dollar company.

Sounds like a smart plan.

David and Goliath, Babyyyeeeee.

 

[Dick Jones]

I hate this acquisition shit. Major third party publishers should be hoped to stay independent. Fuck acquisition cheerleading.

 

[solidus12]

Get Capcom and Sqaure Enix and make them skip Xbox for their next releases.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Soo why not From Software which is a relatively tiny acquisition but held high in core gamers minds?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

imagine Sony acquiring something and be cleared in a matter of hours.
our xbox friends and executives:

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Sony will respond with the Spider-Man 2 release that will sell 25+ million copies and take PS5 console sales and revenue to new heights, and let's be honest, considering how things are going, even that would be more than enough.

Plus counter with a PS5 Pro while Xbox has no pro console and point to all the charts that says its by far the best place to play 3rd party titles

 

[Mr Moose]

Microsoft seem like theyd go for Ubisoft as they have marketing deals with a lot of the tentpole Ubisoft games too

They can't.

 

[SplunkyMunkey]

If Sony wants to earn alot of potential income like they did with what they was getting from CoD then the to potential candidates would either be Buying T2 with there IPs or Buy 50% of EA also with there IPs raging from rts, fps , rpg , sports and considering sports does well on sonys platform.

 

[Kamina]

You know what to do Sony.
Buy Kadokawa.

 

[adamsapple]

Get Capcom and Sqaure Enix and make them skip Xbox for their next releases.

Solidus12 if that happens

 

[Nankatsu]

Go to a war of acquisitions with a trillion dollar company.

Sounds like a smart plan.

I mean, judging by how that trillion dollar outputs their own gaming products, I don't see the problem.

 

[Reckheim]

Kind of a pointless article since its just baseless assumptions. Anyone can come to the conclusion that Sony will be making their own moves.

Personally I can see them scooping up one of the bigger Japanese publishers. I think Capcom is doing a bit too well right now; SQ enix could be a good one.

 

[solidus12]

Solidus12 if that happens

Projecting much?

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Capcom is about the only thing that's left that would sway me if I was a console-only gamer. I hope not though.

 

[cybertailor]

T2 and Capcom would be the only aquisition that makes sense, but seems too expensive. All the others are not really that fitting with Playstation Studios brand wise imo.
People at Sony know how to run Studios, they'd probably be better of just getting new IPs of the ground than buying Ubisoft for example.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Sony probably not gonna do anything until the new CEO comes?

 

[Thirty7ven]

Where’s the value in the market?

Sony is a conservative company so the only way they go big is if they feel there’s no other way.

The way to go is to invest in talent and new IP.

Xbox and PlayStation aren’t at the same point in their stories, Sony doesn’t need a silver bullet like MS does.

 

[gothmog]

Saying they're under pressure is not the same thing as them actually being under pressure. Xbox has fired all of their guns for the year and it seems like Sony is going to do just fine for now.

 

[Loomy]

Can't wait for Ryan McCaffrey to call foul on whatever Sony does.

 

[Three]

imagine Sony acquiring something and be cleared in a matter of hours.
our xbox friends and executives:

I don't want any consolidation but I've got to admit it would be funny to see SenjutsuSage and Solokingrobert turn into a global financial terrorist if that happens.

 

[yurinka]

Ampere Analysis maybe didn't realize that Sony decreased their acquisitions and investements budget for this FY until around $140M before acquiring Audeze, and decided to keep acquisitions for the mid to long term, pretty likely matching the timeframe when they'll have completed the spinoff of their banking division to sell 80+% of it (which will take 2-3 years according to their estimate).

PS Studios+Bungie have several shooters that have been under development for many years, and they'll continue having CoD for at least 10 years. In addition to this, the Zenimax acquisition didn't cause any advantage to Xbox (with important YoY decreases in hw sales) or Gamepass (did stop growing and got stagnant since many months ago).

I think they won't need to make any acquisition to counter it, at least for a few years.

 

[Unknown?]

None of those would move any sort of needle. Call of Duty alone is more valuable than all those publishers combined.

They need Take 2 to actually reply. GTA is the only thing that would offset COD.

Rock star sucks now though and their key staff are gone. GTA6 will be huge but that company isn't going to remain great.

 

[NEbeast]

It sucks that MS has gobbled up two massive publishers , but I really don't want Sony doing the same. There are rumours of Disney wanting to buy EA, tencent are massive and will certainly want more of the pie, this is going to hurt people who enjoy gaming as a hobby in the long run.
Sony are putting out quality games so they will be fine either way. People have shown they are willing to pay for a premium product, and only one console manufacturer is currently doing that .

 

[adamsapple]

imagine Sony acquiring something and be cleared in a matter of hours.
our xbox friends and executives:

Did you forget Bungie?

its acquisition was announced after Activision and got completed within a few months, tops.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

They can't.

Who would want them

 

[RoadHazard]

Please not Square Enix. I want Xbox players to have to suffer through their awful games too.

 

[Crayon]

All this stuff sucks. Best case is a bungie sitch where they just skim the money and let them continue publishing on all platforms. Even then, "plans change" and they could withold a game whenver they want.

 

[BootsLoader]

I don’t think that Sony needs to respond to MS.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Buy as many ~100 person studios that are trying to make the next big Live Service game.

Create as many ~100 person studios that are trying to make the next big Live Service game.

Single player studios are overvalued in todays market if they don't have a monster IP attached. Multiplayer studios don't have that issue.

 

[Represent.]

Rock star sucks now though and their key staff are gone. GTA6 will be huge but that company isn't going to remain great.

No they don't suck, RDR 2 was a masterpiece. GTA 6 will be one too.
Thats all you need anyway. Red Dead and GTA. The rest of their games are all a bonus.
Plus they'd be fused with Sony 1st Party.

 

[Kurotri]

Soo why not From Software which is a relatively tiny acquisition but held high in core gamers minds?

They belong to Kadokawa, so they'd have to get them first IIRC.

 

[X-Wing]

As Ampere gotten any prediction right so far?

 

[yurinka]

Microsoft has been restricted from buying Ubisoft for the next 10 years. That period can also be extended if the CMA wants to extend it.

In addition to this there's the Tencent stuff: they also had a deal to don't buy/sell during I don't remember if it was 5 or 8 years. In addition to this, the Guillemots don't want to sell and thanks to Tencent they now are protected against hostile takeovers.

Soo why not From Software which is a relatively tiny acquisition but held high in core gamers minds?

Because it's owned by another company who maybe doesn't want to sell their main asset, and maybe doesn't want to sell their own company.

Sony probably not gonna do anything until the new CEO comes?

Before leaving pretty likely they already left planned what to do during this transitional period plus the first months of the new CEO. And pretty likely the idea was to continue working on the stuff they already were working on since several years ago.

I wouldn't expect them to do something very different and new before getting a new CEO.

 

[SplunkyMunkey]

What about Embracer? I'm positive sony can get alot of studios at a cheaper price? Probably can get like 10/15 studios at far better price then ms payed for zenimax maybe anyways

 

[Unknown?]

No they don't suck, RDR 2 was a masterpiece. GTA 6 will be one too.
Thats all you need anyway. Red Dead and GTA. The rest of their games are all a bonus.
Plus they'd be fused with Sony 1st Party.

Everything else they've put out has been terrible though. They haven't shown the prestige they're known for, just pumping out shark cards.

 

[systemr123]

imagine Sony acquiring something and be cleared in a matter of hours.
our xbox friends and executives:

You mean something like Bungie?

 

[Kataploom]

They already left competition (and even PC players) without some games for years so I don't think they need it. They're in the dominant position.