Shares in Japanese technology giant Sony have slumped in Tokyo trade after Microsoft said it plans to buy mega games company Activision Blizzard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deal worth $68.7bn (\u00a350.5bn), would be Microsoft’s biggest ever buyout and the largest deal in gaming history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would see the US firm owning popular gaming franchises including Call of Duty, Warcraft and Overwatch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deal would be a major step for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming brand in its battle against Sony’s PlayStation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also comes a year after Microsoft bought another influential gaming company, Bethesda for $7.5bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buying the troubled but successful Activision would turn Microsoft into the world’s third-biggest gaming company by revenue, behind China’s Tencent and Sony, marking a major shift for the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Microsoft said the Activision-Blizzard deal would help it grow its gaming business across mobile, PC and consoles as well as providing the building blocks for the metaverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The purchase of the Call of Duty maker comes as Microsoft is also aggressively expanding its Game Pass subscription service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all,” Microsoft’s chief executive Satya Nadella said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Microsoft plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn
In the battle for popularity with gamers, Sony’s PlayStation 5 is widely seen as having the lead over Microsoft’s fourth generation Xbox models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent years, Sony has strengthened its network of in-house games studios and delivered a string of exclusive hits including in its Spider-man franchise, which has left its US rival playing catch-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Japanese firm is also a pioneer in virtual reality and this month teased some details its next generation headset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it faces tough competition in that area from non-traditional rivals such as Facebook owner Meta Platforms, which is investing heavily in its metaverse offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sony Group’s shares closed 12.8% lower in Tokyo on Wednesday, which helped to pull down the benchmark Nikkei 225 index by 2.8%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shares in Japanese technology giant Sony have slumped in Tokyo trade after Microsoft said it plans to buy mega games company Activision Blizzard. The deal worth $68.7bn (\u00a350.5bn), would be Microsoft’s biggest ever buyout and the largest deal in gaming history. It would see the US firm owning popular gaming franchises including Call of Duty, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n