With the finalization of this deal, Sony will be acquiring its own sets of intellectual property in the same fashion as Microsoft did with its purchase of Activision Blizzard, with the intent of expanding its influence over the wider gaming market. As such, many are surely wondering how these recent acquisitions stack up to each other.
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Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, And More Xbox Game Studios
When Microsoft announced its $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard last month, the gaming world was at attention, primarily due to the level of prestigious titles that suddenly fell under ownership of Microsoft. The tech giant laid claim to the Starcraft, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush and Diablo franchises, with Overwatch and Call of Duty being the crown jewels.
This is on top of Microsoft’s additional acquisition of Bethesda parent-company Zenimax Media for a comparatively cheaper $7.5 billion in March of last year. This particular acquisition saw Microsoft attain Dishonored, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Fallout, Starfield, The Evil Within and Prey. Additionally, Microsoft now owns the industry powerhouse that is Minecraft and the catalog of the veteran developer studio Rare, as well as its own array of original titles like Halo and Gears of War.
A key factor surrounding this array of acquisitions is the sheer level of spending-power available to Microsoft. Microsoft, through its long-established dominance of a large sector of the technology industry, possesses a staggering market-cap of $2.3 trillion. As a result, it has significant capital at its disposal to make these large purchases, with the aim of diversifying its portfolio and adding to its exclusive catalog to dispel long-standing criticism of the lack of unique games offered via Xbox when compared to its competitors.
Sony’s Purchase of Bungie
Following this spate of business from Microsoft, which significantly built its sway in the industry, it seemed likely that the other influential gaming corporations would follow suit. Sony is the first of these competitors to make its move, with its aforementioned purchase of the well-respected and established development studio Bungie. With the transaction coming to $3.6 billion, it runs the risk of being overshadowed by the more substantial sums put forward by Microsoft in recent months, yet that isn’t to say the purchase is without great utility in its own right.
Bungie’s primary export in recent times has been the popular game series Destiny, with Destiny 2 being one of the most popular MMO-like first-person shooters currently on the market. Bungie is perhaps best known for being the initial creator of the Halo franchise under Microsoft ownership back in 2000. The fact that the forefather of the most iconic Xbox series is now owned by Sony may at first appear to be a kick in the teeth for Xbox fans, yet they should consider that Sony does not plan to shut out other platforms as a result of this acquisition. Sony have already stated its intentions to maintain multi-platform releases for Bungie titles, both for existing and future releases.
This inclusively-natured promise by Sony can be seen as tactical, perhaps setting the tone amongst competitors that the future of the gaming landscape should be one of a symbiotic and mutually beneficial nature. With the largest corporations developing their own respective portfolios via acquisitions, titles could then have a greater and new-found emphasis on accessibility and cross-play, with profits and larger player bases helping incentivize multi-platform releases. This would undoubtedly welcome change for many gamers, who generally want to move away from archaic and uncertain ‘console wars’ in favor of greater accessibility concerning their favorite titles.
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How the Two Compare
While comparatively, Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard seems more outwardly impressive due to the larger amount of genre-defining titles that it gained from the move, it is additionally important to factor in that Sony paid almost 20 times less for its purchase of Bungie. When considering Sony’s market cap is $139 billion, compared to Microsoft’s aforementioned $2.3 trillion, it simply is not feasible for Sony to compete in a head-to-head fashion in this emerging acquisition-based market, as it may compete in other ways; it will instead want to demonstrate shrewd business to stay in the running.
Although Sony will only have the Destiny franchise in terms of a current released IP, Bungie reportedly has a hero shooter-type game in development as well. While this may appear outwardly overpriced considering the games currently available, it is clear that Sony has a clear focus of a future roadmap it wants to work toward, with Bungie being a key figure in achieving that goal. With this being one of the first steps made by Sony in what is appearing to be a new era of business operation within the gaming landscape, taking ownership of Bungie is a relatively safe basis to launch this overarching aspiration. Additionally, many point to the large potential growth of Destiny 2 that the buy could herald, with the already free-to-play nature of the game combining with the injection of resources by Sony for potentially lucrative consequences.
It is more than likely that this will simply be the first step in Sony’s plan in terms of acquisitions, with Playstation CEO Jim Ryan already hinting at more plans to acquire studios in the immediate wake of the Bungie purchase. This buy is a sensible testing of the waters in what is very uncertain times within the business aspect of gaming, allowing Sony to begin to set its plans in motion while providing a needed shift of attention from the domineering focus on Microsoft the previous few months have bared witness to. With more acquisitions to surely come from both sides in the near future, an interesting few months surely lie ahead.
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