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TOKYO (Reuters) – Sony Corp shares fell as much as 2% in Tokyo trading on Wednesday after Microsoft Corp said it would buy the parent company of game publisher Bethesda Softworks, in a deal to bolster its list of games. while contemplating the expansion of cloud gaming.
Analysts expect Sony’s PlayStation 5 to outsell Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox consoles when the devices launch in November, bolstered by Sony’s stronger portfolio of games that includes exclusives like “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles. Morales “.
Microsoft’s $ 7.5 billion acquisition of the publisher behind successful franchises such as “Doom” and “Fallout” helps bridge that gap as it moves into cloud gaming with the launch of a subscription service last week for Android devices.
The Xbox Game Pass is central to Microsoft’s counterattack, with Sony’s rival service PlayStation Now having a dominant hardware install base, seen as lagging in terms of games on sale and limited to PlayStation and PC.
It will take time for the deal to roll out to the Xbox games portfolio, with Bethesda hired to bring the titles “Deathloop” and “Ghostwire: Tokyo” to PlayStation 5.
The concentration of studios in the hands of established gamers puts clear blue water between a wave of rivals like Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company, which are moving toward gaming but lacking incredible titles.
“Given the expansion of streaming services as we enter the era of next-generation consoles, we expect this industry consolidation to continue,” Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal wrote in a note to the client.
Markets in Japan reopened on Wednesday after national holidays. Sony shares are up nearly half since March lows as the gaming industry benefits from demand generated by stay-at-home policies during the coronavirus outbreak.
Reporting by Sam Nussey; Christopher Cushing Editing
