PlayStation vs Xbox: Sony Reported Having $5 Billion Left for Acquisitions Till 2023, Amidst the Microsoft-Activision $68.7 Billion Deal

Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle in its attempts to acquire Activision Blizzard. It has been trying to convince a bunch of regulatory bodies that it does not mean any harm to its competition through this deal. While Microsoft goes through this, Sony too might be planning to acquire some choice development studios in 2023.

It appears Sony is also looking to expand its development profile for PlayStation 5 first-party titles, and it has a huge budget to do so too!

Sony has a strategic investment budget of $5 billion for 2023

Sony Group Corporation’s Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki was present during the recent Morgan Stanley Technology Media and Entertainment conference. There, he revealed that this year they have a budget of $5 billion, specifically dedicated to strategic investment.

It was also made clear that they would be making these investments before 2024. This seems like a very viable thing for Sony to do. In the current climate, where video games provide a continuous and significantly larger revenue when compared to any other form of media, they are sure to put this money into some acquisitions.

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It would not be too farfetched to say that maybe this company is currently in talks with some game studios and small publishers regarding buyouts. They had previously mentioned the growing sales of PlayStation 5 in 2022, so it only makes sense for Sony to put some more money into that field.

Some might even remember that in 2021, Sony had planned to spend as much as ¥2 trillion ($18.39 billion) on expanding gaming and entertainment services subscribers. It was said that they spent close to $12 billion in 2022, of which $3.6 billion went into the acquisition of Bungie.

When asked, Totoki pointed out that, last year, they spent close to ¥1.3 trillion on these pursuits. And Sony plans to spend the remaining ¥700 billion (around $5 billion when converted from Yen to Dollars) as they previously discussed.

This announcement has even sparked a bunch of speculation from Sony PlayStation fans. They have already started discussing the possible contenders for acquisition. Some say it should be Ubisoft, while others can be seen talking about Capcom and Square Enix.

Amongst these names, only Ubisoft is the company that has a possibility of getting acquired. On the other hand, Square Enix and Capcom are not in any hurry to sell out, and their value is way more than $5 billion when one considers the franchises they hold.

Sony PS5 has big things coming in 2023–2024

While talks of acquisitions would continue, Sony has no shortage of huge games coming to their primary console. One of them is the latest installment in the ever-popular Final Fantasy series. Another is a sequel to one of the most popular superhero games in the past few years, Spider-Man 2.

And let’s not forget Silent Hill 2 and that rumored Metal Gear Solid remake. Fans must remember that for years Sony’s main strategy has been to buy console exclusives and not development studios.

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And we must also remember that this $5 billion investment budget is not exclusively for Sony’s gaming division. We will have to wait and see where this money goes.