You probably did not miss yesterday’s shocking news, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for 68,7 billion dollars. We suspect that this action will not be without consequences for the industry, in particular for Sony.
Activision acquired by Xbox for 70 billion dollars: it’s official!
Sony shares fall 7%
- Call of Duty Xbox exclusive? It doesn’t seem like a given yet!
The console maker could be very impacted in the future on the sale of its third-party games, since Call of Duty is the best-selling game on PlayStation in 2021 to USA. Suffice to say that if the franchise were to become exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem, this could have strong consequences for Sony.
We are absolutely not at this stage, but PlayStation has already witnessed the first repercussions of the announcement of this takeover. Indeed, the company’s shares ended the day yesterday down 7,% on the New York Stock Exchange, marking the lowest closing for the group since the end of October 2021.
Meanwhile, we learned yesterday that Activision Blizzard stock price jumped by % following this announcement, which is quite usual when such an event occurs. The prices of other publishers such as Ubisoft or Electronic Arts also soared yesterday, the result of the panic of investors and the market.
In summary, the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft has created a euphoric effect for the publisher, but all this should eventually settle down as we approach the effective date of the takeover. Sony’s share price fell without being a disaster while Microsoft’s share price remained stable.
There is no doubt that in the weeks, months and years to come, this previously unimaginable takeover will continue to shake up the entire industry. It’s a safe bet that Sony will counter this strategic move and prepare announcements to show its future strategy after many months of silence. The Japanese could for example announce its PlayStation Game Pass with the backward compatibility of its catalog, which would be seen as good news by investors.
Our articles on the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft
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