Microsoft’s announcement to acquire Activision Blizzard has created massive waves in not just the gaming industry but the financial market as well. Not only is the $68.7 billion deal the biggest company acquisition in gaming history, but it has also had a massive impact on all the competitors.
Xbox has finally made moves to bring Activision Blizzard games to the Xbox Game Pass in the future. It is also not out of the realm of possibility that some of the acquired studio’s biggest IPs will become Xbox exclusives in the future. Games like Call of Duty or Overwatch becoming Xbox exclusive is guaranteed to shake up the industry if it occurs. While this is still a distant potential eventuality, Sony is already facing the heat from these events.
According to Bloomberg, Sony’s market valuation fell by 13% in Tokyo on Wednesday after news of the acquisition broke. This would make it the most significant drop Sony’s valuations have seen in a single day since 2008. This 13% drop is a $20 billion loss from Sony’s value in less than a day. It is evident that Xbox acquiring Activision Blizzard would be a considerable threat to PlayStation as it would dictate which games would make it onto the platform.
2022 is kicking off on a good note for Microsoft as the good news did not stop at the acquisition announcement. Phil Spencer also revealed that Xbox Game Pass had surpassed 25 million subscribers. Given that the future Call of Duty titles will be launching on the service, along with games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo, Crash Bandicoot, and other Activision Blizzard properties, the number of subscribers is only going to climb.
Sony may have experienced a staggering loss in the stock market yesterday, but other studios were bumped in the Tokyo market after the news. Square Enix and Capcom’s values both rose by over 3.7%. Experts say this will happen to studios with strong IPs under their belt, as Sony or Nintendo might look at retaliating against Microsoft’s acquisition with some of their own.
About Sony
Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. The company operates as one of the most comprehensive media companies on the planet and also holds the distinctions of being the largest video game console company and the second largest video game publisher in the world.
Its gaming and network services arm Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly Sony Computer Entertainment) is best known for producing the popular line of PlayStation consoles.
No Comments on Sony Loses $20 Billion in Value Due to Xbox’s Activision Acquisition