Geoff Keighley tips more gigantic gaming brand buyouts soon
The gaming world has already been rocked with a few big acquisitions in 2022, and it's only the start of February. With that in mind, though, Geoff Keighley, known for The Game Awards and now Summer Game Fest, has shared a new tweet claiming that there are a few other big acquisitions yet to come. "Have heard from multiple people: As you might suspect, there are a few other big video game deals in final states of negotiations," the tweet reads. "It's going to be an interesting year!"
The tweet comes on the back of Bungie's announcement on January 31, 2022, that the "Destiny 2" developer would be joining the PlayStation umbrella. Sony purchased Bungie for around $3.7 billion. Earlier in the year, we also saw Microsoft coming to terms with Activision/Blizzard for a purchase deal, as well as "Grand Theft Auto" publisher Take Two Interactive joining the fray with a purchase of Zynga, the studio behind "Farmville".
Keighley doesn't give any explicit sources to back up his information, however, it wouldn't be unheard of for him to have some kind of insider information. He's become a big name in the gaming industry, especially over the past two years, and he has a relationship with several big-name developers and companies.
What do all these acquisitions mean for gamers?
Ultimately, it's really hard to say exactly what these acquisitions mean for the gaming world in general. In some cases, like Microsoft buying Activision, we could start to see games series that were once multiplatform offering console exclusive benefits – or even becoming console exclusives themselves. With other acquisitions, like Sony and Bungie, the studios have pledged to remain independent and continue multi-platform support. Unfortunately, there's no way to tell what each acquisition will bring. So, all we can do is wait and see how things play out.
What we do know, is that each acquisition brings us one step closer to a gaming world that is dominated and controlled by fewer and fewer companies. This is especially true if Microsoft, Sony, and Tencent all three continue to soak up independent companies. Microsoft added Bethesda to its roster of in-house studios in 2021, and Sony has been making its own purchases throughout the past few years, too.
If things continue the way they are, the world of independent studios will become smaller and smaller. Will this stifle innovation and creative freedom in the gaming world? Probably not. Ultimately, though, that's just another thing that we'll have to be patient and watch for as 2022 wears on.