What's going on?

Sony announced this week that it�s buying sci-fi game studio Bungie, as the entertainment giant tries to make a name for itself as the future of gaming.

What does this mean?

Sony has traditionally made a point of buying small games studios and building them out in its own image, but this slow-and-steady approach might not cut it any more � not after Microsoft announced last month that it�d be buying big-name developer Activision Blizzard. That acquisition will, after all, give its rival the power to make PlayStation-favorite Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive. So Sony has pulled the trigger on a major bid of its own, agreeing to buy US developer Bungie for $3.6 billion. That should provide the leverage it needs: the entertainment giant can now threaten Xbox users with going cold turkey on the must-have Destiny franchise.

Why should I care?

For markets: Spider-Man might save the day.
Investors sent Sony�s share price up 5% after the news, which partly makes up for the 13% drop it suffered when the Microsoft-Activision deal was announced. It�s still underperformed fellow Japanese gaming giant Nintendo by 19% this year, of course, but that�s arguably a bit short-sighted given that Sony has more strings to its bow. In fact, its image sensor segment is likely to have done big business last quarter after Apple�s bumper few months, and Spider-Man: No Way Home�s worldwide success should have bolstered its movie studio. Watch this space: Sony�s set to report last quarter�s results later this week.

The bigger picture: Start as you mean to go on.
There have now been three massive gaming acquisitions worth a total of around $84 billion in January alone. To put that into perspective, the whole of last year saw $85 billion in deals, which itself was almost three times higher than in 2020. So settle in for a record-blitzing year: analysts are expecting $150 billion in deals and fundraising in the sector.