On the 31st of last month (local time), Sony announced the acquisition of Bungie through the PlayStation Blog. (Photo by PlayStation Blog)
[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The competition for mergers and acquisitions in the gaming industry is fierce in the new year. Following the news of Microsoft (MS) acquiring Activision Blizzard, its biggest competitor Sony countered by acquiring Bungie, the game company known for developing the famous shooting games 'Halo' and 'Destiny'.
According to the gaming industry on the 5th, on the 1st of this month, Japan's Sony announced it would acquire Bungie for $3.6 billion (approximately 4.3 trillion KRW). Founded in 1991, the game developer Bungie gained fame by releasing first-person shooter games 'Destiny' and 'Halo'. In particular, the Halo series is content for MS's console Xbox, and since its release in 2001, it has maintained steady popularity with six official series installments.
Sony's acquisition of Bungie for a huge sum in the 4 trillion KRW range is interpreted as a move keeping in mind competition with MS, which acquired Activision Blizzard in mid-last month. MS's acquisition amount for Blizzard is $68.7 billion (approximately 82 trillion KRW), far exceeding the $26 billion (approximately 31 trillion KRW) MS invested to acquire LinkedIn in 2016. Activision Blizzard is a game company that owns global intellectual property (IP) such as 'Call of Duty', 'World of Warcraft', 'Diablo', 'Overwatch', and 'Candy Crush Saga'.
Speculation has arisen in the gaming industry that the famous games owned by Blizzard might be offered exclusively on MS platforms, intensifying competition over 'exclusive content'. In response, Sony is also securing content through game company acquisitions. Earlier, on the 10th of last month, the major game company Take-Two Interactive, famous for the game 'GTA', announced plans to acquire the American social network game developer Zynga for $12.7 billion.
The acquisition battles in the gaming industry are also interpreted as efforts to get ahead in the future competition for three-dimensional virtual space 'metaverse' platforms by securing IP. Additionally, as the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is anticipated within the metaverse, platforms holding numerous IPs are structurally positioned to dominate the market. Satya Nadella, CEO of MS, regarding the Blizzard acquisition, stated, “Games will play a central role in developing metaverse platforms,” clarifying that this is not just a content business but a stepping stone to expanding into the metaverse.
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