Playstation maker Sony is responding with its own takeover plan.
(Photo: AP)
Saint Matthew The gaming console heavyweights’ buying spree is accelerating: After Microsoft went out to buy the creators of “Call of Duty,” Sony responded with its own takeover plan. The Playstation provider wants to swallow the Bungie studio, which developed games like “Halo” and “Destiny.” The deal has a total value of 3.6 billion dollars (3.2 billion euros), the companies announced on Monday.
Sony is spending far less money than Microsoft: The Xbox group wants gaming company Activision Blizzard to spend a total of $68.7 billion. In addition to “Call of Duty,” Activision Blizzard also includes “World of Warcraft,” “Diablo,” and the smartphone game “Candy Crush.”
In view of the planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Sony had to adjust to the fact that over time Microsoft would only be able to offer the company’s popular titles exclusively for Xbox or in-house online subscription offering.
According to media reports, the current deals only guarantee that the game will be released for Playstation during the next three “Call of Duty” editions. The logical answer was to expand the range by buying a game studio with equally popular titles.
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It’s ironic that Bungie was once part of Microsoft, and Halo was one of the key games that helped Xbox emerge as a relative newcomer to its place alongside then-leader Playstation. Microsoft retained the rights to “Halo” when it spun off in 2007, so Sony could primarily benefit from further development of “Destiny” by buying Bungie.
Sony and Bungie assured that the current game “Destiny 2” will continue to be available for all platforms after the acquisition. Even later games that are still in development won’t be offered exclusively for Playstation, he said.
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