Sony Buys Bungie
There have been huge acquisitions in the video game world lately. Two weeks ago, Microsoft acquired gaming developer Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Activision Blizzard is the company behind iconic franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo and Candy Crush. And on Monday, the world’s largest video game company, Sony, agreed to buy private video game developer Bungie for $3.6 billion.
The Bungie acquisition isn’t as large as the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard deal, but it’s still a significant studio acquisition. Bungie is the company behind popular franchises like Destiny and Halo. And although Bungie is a multi-platform game developer and Sony is the creator of the PlayStation, Sony says Bungie will remain multi-platform.
A few weeks ago, gaming developer Take-Two Interactive acquired Farmville developer Zynga for $12.7 billion. Then, Microsoft and Sony also purchased gaming developers in billion-dollar deals. And after Microsoft’s purchase, the co-founder of Netflix, Reed Hastings, expressed his company’s interest in diving into the video game industry. It seems like technology companies are becoming increasingly interested in gaming—but why?
One reason these tech companies are becoming interested in gaming could be that they want to reach a wider audience and get ready for future virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies. And as gaming becomes more prevalent in the day-to-day lives of people around the world, tech companies are preparing for the future. Could we see another major video game developer get acquired soon?
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.