If you disconnected from the internet for the weekend, you might not have heard the news about Sony’s latest acquisition target. According to rumors, the gaming giant behind the PlayStation brand has set its sights on buying CD Projekt RED, a studio renowned for creating the award-winning title, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, as well as the controversial AAA project, Cyberpunk 2077.
Liz, a well-known Destiny leaker, got the gaming community talking about the potential purchase – a little over a year after Sony paid a hefty sum to have Bungie help out with its live-service endeavors, among other things.
Naturally, the story that Sony is planning to buy CD Projekt RED turned a lot of heads, sparking debates about whether this was plausible.
The same source also claims that Sony has started development on Days Gone 2 even though we just got word from one of the game’s key figures that the ship has since sailed on the sequel and Bend Studio is already working on a different game.
It’s worth noting this isn’t the first time Sony has been rumored to have bought CD Projekt Red. Last March, the company’s name appeared on Sony’s page on PitchBook, a market data platform. At the time, the merger was said to have closed last October. But, it’s been half a year since then, and neither Sony nor CDPR have made any official announcements regarding this buyout. Thus, this can only mean that they’re really insistent on keeping it a secret or it didn’t happen.
Keep in mind that even the “smallest” of acquisitions make front-page news, so you can only imagine the headlines this type of monumental deal would create.
But, as much as we’d love to dismiss the rumor, it does make plenty of strategic sense for Sony. Although Sony can’t afford to buy larger companies, CD Projekt RED fits within its budget through 2024.
With Microsoft’s recent powerhouse move of buying Activision Blizzard gaining traction, Sony might feel the need to counter. CD Projekt RED might not help give Sony more ammo in the FPS genre or in the live-service field, but it has the uber-successful Witcher franchise under its belt, among others.
The Witcher franchise is extending beyond the initial trilogy with a fourth game in the works, which is part of a planned trilogy. This is just one of the many projects CDPR is working on at the moment. This expansive reach could further boost Sony’s standing in the gaming world while also playing to the company’s single-player strengths.
Ultimately, all this remains highly speculative until we get official word from Sony and/or CD Projekt RED.
For now, the only thing that’s confirmed is CDPR working on an expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 that may or may not come out in June.
