There certainly has been a club sandwich of video game news recently, with the Xbox acquistion of Activision Blizzard and now Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) acquisition of Bungie. Yes, the legendary creators of the IP the literally put Xbox on the map, are now owned by Sony and PlayStation.
PlayStation are plugging a gap in first party content
PlayStation are known amongst the video game community and critics for their high quality, photo-realistic video games. But one thing they never really had on lock, when compared to Xbox, was a first person shooter that was top of the line. Yes they have had the Call of Duty marketing rights since 2013, but since the Microsoft acquisition of Activision that all suddenly seemed like it could go away. Despite this, SIE and Bungie have said that this deal has been in the works for some months. It makes sense too. One genre I would say Sony has never quite had nailed (first party wise) is a first person shooter. And Destiny is one of the best and most successful ones around.
Destiny is also one of the best live service games around. Another area where Xbox has been producing for quite some years, but PlayStation for all their greatness, has not. This purchase it seems, plugs two gaps. It also sets them up very nicely for the much anticipated Xbox Game Pass competitor Project Sparticus.
PlayStation are going full send on services with Project Sparticus
Project Sparticus is rumoured to be a subscription service which blends PlayStation+ with PlayStation Now. No one is quite sure how it is going to work, so we can only speculate. But if PlayStation are to be taken at their most recent words, then PlayStation first party exclusive games will not release day in date on the service. So, how do they drive and maintain subscriptions? Put simply, by having live service games which update day one in the service with exclusive content.
I know when PlayStation release this service, I will be a day one sub. It will be interesting to see what state the service launches in. Will it be console only? Will there be a PC and a cloud version? The next few months are certainly going to be very interesting.
Bungie to remain a multiplatform developer
The $3.6 billion acquisition is a fantastic get for SIE and PlayStation, of course. But one thing that surprised many, was the announcement that Bungie will remain a multiplatform developer and continue to self publish games. This says to me that PlayStation intend for them to keep making multiplayer games. In the full press release (see link) it is stated one of the first results we will see, is a massive growth of the studio. It is safe to assume that they have new IP and games planned and Sony are keen to see them come to fruitition.
In a later comment Sony announced that by 2026 they want to have at least 10 live service games. I imagine some of these at least will be multiplatform. Live service games definitely do go beyond just one box and are best enjoyed when there are higher player counts. I for one am looking forward to seeing what they will deliver in this space.
Its acquisition season, baby! Neither PlayStation or Xbox are done yet!
With both Phil Spencer of Xbox and Jim Ryan of PlayStation stating that they are not done buying talent, fans are left speculating and hoping that their preferred platform will acquire their favourite studios. It seems that the market consolidation still has a way to go then.
Other key players must also be factored in. Take-Two for example, recently purchased Zynga for $12 billion. EA are reportedly keen on opening their checkbooks… Geoff Keighley recently tweeted out that he knows about a few potential acquisitions that are ‘close’ to being agreed.
Another famed industry insider claiming he has heard about a deal potentially being close is Venture Beat’s Jeff Grubb.
Strap yourselves in, it’s going to be one hellava 2022. With all this consolidation, do you think it could lead to problems in the industry? Are you happy to see the market consolidating? One thing is for sure, it sure is an exciting time to be a gamer!
