The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly investigating Sony’s upcoming purchase of Bungie.
Sources told The Information that the FTC is looking for more details regarding Sony’s $3.6 million acquisition, potentially delaying the deal’s close by several months. While Sony never gave a closing date for the transaction, it could reportedly be pushed well into next year.
This investigation undoubtedly signifies that the FTC is taking a more aggressive stance regarding massive mergers with the games industry. We already see it happening with Microsoft’s buyout of Activision Blizzard, and while stockholders approved the proposal, Wall Street is betting it’ll fail.
The FTC reportedly has concerns regarding Sony’s intentions with this purchase, specifically whether Bungie titles will continue to be released on competing platforms like PC and Xbox. Destiny 2 will remain multiplatform for sure, but anything beyond that is unknown. Sony is preparing to launch 10 live-service games by 2026, and Bungie will likely help with all that.
Scoop: 🎮 🕵️♀️The FTC is diving deeper into the video game industry, opening a probe of Sony's $3.6b deal for Bungie, the studio behind first person shooter Destiny. It follows the in depth investigation of Microsoft's $69b deal for Activision Blizzard.https://t.co/aHqhLrzvD4
— Josh Sisco (@joshua_sisco) May 5, 2022
While it’s unlikely that this deal will crumble, the FTC is clearly scrutinizing these massive acquisitions like never before. There’s been growing concern about the games industry’s potential consolidation, and the FTC probably shares many of them.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
