Sony’s Stock Plummets 12% In One Day After Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard

Yesterday the gaming world was shocked to its core. The news of Microsoft purchasing Activision Blizzard caught everyone off guard. No one saw this huge deal coming, and the whole industry was unready. The sheer size of the purchase, $70 Billion, has startled everyone. Every company felt the shock of this deal. But, the publisher this deal affected the most is Microsoft’s competitor – Sony. 

The company’s stock went down by 12% following the deal. The stock price is regularly decreasing by the hour. So, this declining trend may continue for a while. This comes after Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard and isn’t surprising to anyone. Sony has felt the worst shock of this purchase as predicted.

BREAKING: Sony shares plunge as much as 9.6%, the biggest drop since 2020, after rival Microsoft's deal to buy Activision https://t.co/iDZ2RjF5ll pic.twitter.com/OT0XlujPAH

— Bloomberg (@business) January 19, 2022

Many think that it will decrease up to 20% before increasing. Hence selling now and buying in later is a good strategy. Sony may be down, but they are coming back. Not all is bad, however. Even Microsoft‘s stock is down by 2.4% today. 

Microsoft‘s acquisition of the company is game-changing. They now own a large number of major franchises. Many are talking about Call Of Duty, but that isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. IPs like Diablo, World Of Warcraft, and StarCraft will give Microsoft even more muscle for their Game Pass. So, Microsoft will have a major incentive to bring gamers aboard. 

An overlooked part of this merger is Candy Crush. The game is one of the biggest on mobile devices. Microsoft has plans to promote cloud gaming and reach 3 billion gamers on the planet. So, a big IP on mobile devices will help them in reaching this goal.

Sony has had a bad aftertaste from this deal. Your main competition buying one of the biggest publishers in the world is going to leave a mark. So, the effect on the Sony stock market is unsurprising.

The response from Sony will be interesting to see. Sony is working on a Game Pass contender for PlayStation. But, their response beyond this is going to be intriguing. Will they go out and buy a major publisher like EA or Ubisoft? Only time can answer that question. We can only hope that this “console war” is better for the players.