The majority of the budget designated for strategic investments, such as the purchase of game development studios, has already been spent, according to Sony.
Sony's announced acquisition budget, which is expected to last until 2024, only has a small portion left. The Japanese business declared in May 2021 that it had set aside the equivalent of about $18.39 billion for "strategic investments" across the board. This included a push by Sony to increase the number of PlayStation Plus subscribers as well as the potential purchase of development studios.
In that vein, many will recall that this resulted in a number of significant game studio acquisitions by Sony in 2021, including Returnal developer Housemarque; Bluepoint Games, the studio behind the well-received Demon's Souls and Shadow of the Colossus remakes; as well as the lesser-known Firesprite, Nixxes Software, and Valkyrie Entertainment. In 2022, a few more studios, including Jade Raymond's Haven Studios and Bungie for $3.7 billion, were brought under the PlayStation brand.
Sony's recent Morgan Stanley web conference revealed that only $5 billion of its initial $18 billion budget allocation is still available. Up until 2024, this money will be used to support investments and acquisitions; following that, additional funding is anticipated. The $5 billion figure is significant, though, as it effectively puts to rest a number of rumors that have been circulating about Sony buying a number of game studios.
There have been several substantial acquisitions rumored to be taking place, particularly over the last year or so. This appears to be influenced in part by the ongoing debate surrounding Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Sony is rumored to be in the process of acquiring Take-Two Interactive, Square Enix, Capcom, Konami, Epic Games, and Square Enix at any given time.
To put the figures in perspective, Take-Two Interactive's market value currently hovers around $20 billion, while Square Enix's market value as of March 2023 is $5.57 billion. Only CD Projekt Red and perhaps Konami fall under or on that $5 billion budget of the top studios Sony is rumored to be eyeing. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Japanese company will acquire any of those larger developers anytime soon. It also means that there is still a chance that another, smaller studio acquisition announcement will be made before the year is out.
The numbers also highlight the vast difference in gaming acquisition budgets between Microsoft and Sony. ZeniMax Media and its well-known studios, like Bethesda, were purchased by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2021. That figure seemed astounding until Microsoft announced its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard less than a year later. Acquisitions and exclusivity are handled slightly differently by Sony and Microsoft. PlayStation continues to be intent on maintaining exclusivity of blockbuster franchises that should make its ecosystem the more alluring one, in contrast to Xbox, which currently appears focused on acquiring parent companies and all of their golden goose subsidiaries.
Source: Resetera