In the latest conversation of acquisition wars over at Microsoft, the firm is facing new roadblocks. In December, the Xbox company was met with a new lawsuit filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commision (FTC) for potential harm to competition within the industry. Additionally, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in its report suggested a similar outcome with a suggestion to sever Call of Duty from the deal entirely.
Over on the Sony side of things, the PlayStation firm’s most recent acquisition was Repeat.gg back in July 2022. However, the most notable purchase was of Halo/Destiny developer Bungie which finalized this past summer. Looking beyond, Sony Interactive Entertainment does have a new publishing deal with developer Ballistic Moon.
The team consists of faces such as Joshua Archer & Chris Lamb who previously held leadership positions at Supermassive Games for Until Dawn. It first title ‘Project Bates’ also includes Neil McEwan (House of the Dead: Overkill) and Duncan Kershaw (Heavy Rain) as well. According to Pitchbook, a financial services firm, Ballistic Moon now has a listed parent company, Sony.
So while the firm is still getting its footing with the upcoming project already with Sony Interactive Entertainment backing Project Bates, the team appears to already face acquisition as well. Similarly, we witnessed the same with Haven Entertainment Studios which was helmed by industry veteran Jade Raymond.
Noted, the original developer for Until Dawn Supermassive Games faced acquisition of its own by Nordisk Games. The firm originally filed for a 30 percent stake of the developer previously before fully purchasing the developer last year. You can read the full report by heading here.
Are you surprised with Sony Interactive Entertainment purchasing yet another developer?
Source: Pitchbook
