Sony Group Corp. shares 6758 fell as much as 10% on Wednesday morning following news that Microsoft Corp. agreed to buy videogame heavyweight Activision Blizzard Inc. in an all-cash deal valued at about $75 billion.
The blockbuster acquisition escalates Microsoft’s spending spree to secure intellectual property assets for its Xbox Game Pass service, wiping $20 billion off Sony’s valuation in a day.
The push to attract paying subscribers with an overwhelming portfolio of games challenges Sony’s traditional console business model that relies on high-profile exclusive titles and hardware sales. Games and network services account for about 30% of Sony revenue.
How the deal affects Sony
Sony runs the PlayStation console business and subscription-based service PlayStation Plus.
With Activision’s biggest games such as “Call of Duty” now most likely to be added exclusively to its Game Pass roster, “the headwinds for Sony is only going to get tougher,” Anvarzadeh said.
Tracking Shares
Sony Group shares were most recently down 8.4% at Y13,040 after falling to as low as Y12,805 earlier in the day.
