Sony x Bungie will not be the last big name acquisition says industry insider
The recent spate of multi-billion dollar purchases are not going to be the last, according to The Game Awards host and organiser Geoff Keighley.
The last few weeks have seen the status quo in the video games industry shift irrevocably, as Microsoft followed up its purchase of Bethesda by buying Activision Blizzard and Sony announced it was acquiring Destiny developer Bungie.
Even as they did so, Sony warned that this would not be the final purchase they’d be making, and according to industry figure Geoff Keighley ‘there are a few other big video game deals in final stages of negotiations’.
Sony traditionally only buys smaller developers, like Spider-Man maker Insomniac, but while not as big a company as Microsoft they still have a sizeable warchest they could draw from.
In the wake of Microsoft’s acquisition bid for Activision Blizzard it was EA that was highlighted as the most obvious next target, although they’re even bigger than Activision Blizzard and it’s doubtful whether Sony could easily afford them – or even whether Microsoft would want to spend that sort of money again.
Non-gaming companies like Google and Meta were implied to be more likely candidates but it’s unclear from Keighley’s comments whether he’s talking about the sort of company being involved.
What also might be going on is the acquisition of Japanese publishers, which has not yet happened – it’s presumed because it’s all but impossible, from a legal perspective, for a Western company to buy a Japanese firm outright.
Sony (and indeed Nintendo) don’t have that restriction, although acquisitions in Japan are still very rare and most of the consolidation in that country usually takes place only via mergers.
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