Summary
Sonyis currently “under pressure” to respond to Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition, an industry analyst said. His comments on the matter were offered as part of a wider outlook at the PlayStation maker’s prospects following the conclusion of thedeal that some argued would give Xbox too much poweracross the gaming space.
After almost two years' worth of regulatory reviews,Microsoft officially acquired Activision Blizzardon October 13. The $68.7 billion transaction is by far the largest such deal in the history of the gaming industry, as well as the biggest-ever acquisition in the wider tech sector.
Now that Activision Blizzard is part of Microsoft’s family of game studios,Sonyis “surely” feeling the “pressure to react,” according to Ampere Analysis' Head of Games Research Piers Harding-Rolls. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Harding-Rolls opined that this recent turn of events will likely push the PlayStation maker into more acquisitions of its own, including high-profile deals that would offer a “meaningful” way for Sony to continue competing with Microsoft’s ever-growing game-making setup.
Harding-Rolls is hardly alone in his predictions, not least becauseSony itself has been signaling interest in new acquisitionsthroughout 2023. The conglomerate was reportedly even considering spinning off its financial services unit as a public company back in May, all with the goal of funding its future M&A activity. Whether such a move would be necessary for Sony to maintain its inorganic growth momentum moving forward is unclear, but what’s certain is that its acquisitions in the gaming space slowed down over the last 12 months; after completing five such deals in 2022, Sony acquired just one game developer in 2023, the Washington-based Firewalk Studios.
As for what’s next for Microsoft, Harding-Rolls expects that the tech giant won’t attempt altering Activision Blizzard’s core structure in the foreseeable future. While Bobby Kotick already confirmed he’ll be stepping down as Activision Blizzard CEO come 2024, a change in leadership won’t necessarily have an immediate impact on the rest of the company. As things stand right now, Harding-Rolls expects that Microsoft will leave Activision Blizzard to operate as a separate entity, similar to how it handled ZeniMax Media after acquiring it in early 2021. Such a strategy would leave Microsoft with three independent game publishing arms: Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and Xbox Game Studios.
And whilePlayStation is now starting to feel the sting from Microsoft’s ZeniMax acquisition, this newly concluded deal might take longer to start yielding palpable advantages for Microsoft. That’s largely due to a July deal that saw Microsoft vow to keepCall of Duty—Activision Blizzard’s flagship franchise—on PlayStation for the foreseeable future.
