Sony shares staged a recovery on Thursday in Japan after previously plunging on news of Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of games giant Activision Blizzard.
Sony Group Corp. shares closed at JPY12860 per share on Thursday, up 3.6% from Wednesday’s close of JPY12410. On Wednesday, the shares had fallen by nearly 13% from JPY14230 as the deal appeared to herald a growing battle between Sony’s PlayStation console and Microsoft’s Xbox.
Microsoft said that its $68 billion deal, which may take more than a year to close, would make it the world’s third largest games company by revenue, after China’s Tencent and Japan’s Sony.
The game titles would be included in the move. “World of Warcraft” “Call of Duty” under Microsoft’s control. Other synergies with Microsoft’s Azure network and with its Game Pass gaming subscription plan may be just as significant.
Game Pass had 18,000,000 subscribers in the world a year ago. Microsoft announced Tuesday that Game Pass had reached 25 million subscribers when the deal was made.
Sony’s PlayStation Plus recorded 47.2 million subscribers at the end of Sept. 2021, compared with 45.9 million a year earlier. However, the number of monthly active users on its PlayStation Network decreased from 108 to 104 millions.
While the deal news initially dented Sony’s stock, it lifted the shares of other Japanese games companies, moves that financial analysts said may suggest the firms are seen as potential acquisition targets. Square Enix, Capcom, and Konami shares all rose by more than 5 percent. Ubisoft Entertainment shares also increased by 11% Wednesday.
Square Enix rose 2.5% to JPY5,710 in the Thursday lunchtime trade break. Capcom saw a 2.2% increase at JPY2,644. Konami saw a 5.3% increase at JPY5,600. Nintendo was up 2.4% at JPY54.540 on Thursday lunch.
Sony shares reached a multiyear high of JPY15.520 on Jan. 5, 2022. This was due to a combination of factors including the theatrical success. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,”Its apparent success in not participating directly in the streaming wars among Hollywood studio groups, and its ability of operating through the COVID epidemic in a strong financial position despite the fact that it was not directly competing in those streaming battles. These are indicators that the group is likely to be a buyer and not a seller.