It was recently revealed in a Morgan Stanley web conference that Sony has only $5 billion left of its original $18.39 billion budget set aside to buy and make “strategic investments” until 2024; this means that Sony has spent the majority of its budget on acquisitions and investments, particularly in game development studios.
In 2021, Sony made several game studio acquisitions, including Housemarque, Bluepoint Games, Firesprite, Nixxes Software, and Valkyrie Entertainment. In 2022, Haven Studios and Bungie were added to the PlayStation umbrella. The recent announcement that Sony has only $5 billion remaining in its acquisition budget effectively puts to rest rumors of further acquisitions, particularly of bigger studios such as Epic Games, Square Enix, Capcom, Konami, CD Projekt Red, and Take-Two Interactive.
Of the studios rumored to be in Sony’s sights, only CD Projekt Red and possibly Konami fall below or on the $5 billion budget at this point. This means that if Sony is indeed focused on acquiring larger developers such as Square Enix and Capcom, it won’t be happening anytime soon. However, there is still a possibility of another, smaller studio acquisition before the end of the year.
Sony’s Running Out Of Money To Buy Studios
The difference between Sony’s and Microsoft’s acquisition budgets is also highlighted. In 2021, Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media, including Bethesda, for $7.5 billion. Less than a year later, Microsoft announced its $68.7 billion acquisition deal with Activision Blizzard. While Microsoft appears to be focused on acquiring parent companies and their subsidiaries, Sony is more interested in maintaining the exclusivity of blockbuster franchises to make its ecosystem more enticing.
In conclusion, Sony has spent a significant portion of its acquisition budget, leaving only $5 billion remaining until 2024. While the possibility of further acquisitions of larger studios seems unlikely, there is still a chance of smaller studio acquisitions, Konami being the most likely. Konami has been pretty quiet for a while, but the company did promise a ton of reveals during 2023, with a lot of the reveals focusing on reviving older franchises such as Castlevania, Metal Gear, and Silent Hill.
