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Of course I'm against further consolidation but let's entertain the idea.

Japan companies

- Square Enix ($6 billion) doesn't make much sense imo, Sony already has thier full support and "snatching it" wouldn't hurt Xbox in the slightest (Final Fantasy is not what it used to be in the 90s). I mean it could be viable maybe but they would still spend a lot of money and gain very little advantage in return.

- Konami ($6.5 billion) seems like a bad investment regardless. It's true they have some very interesting IPs but who will actually develop the games? From what I've read they have basically dismantled their console gaming division. Acquiring Konami could make sense for a new entrant who is willing to invest in the business (say Google or Amazon), Sony already has their fair share of IPs to keep their production pipeline busy. The only scenario in which this could make sense is if Sony wants to invest heavily into PES/eFootball to have thier own annual IP for the european market...but even that could risk to ruin their relationship with EA, and they need their full support more than ever.

- Sega Sammy ($ 4.3 billion) again, what that would achieve? They're going to counter COD exclusivity with Sonic and Yakuza?

- Capcom ($6.1 billion) makes slightly more sense than Square-Enix imo because, in addition to having some popular IPs, they have dev teams capable of producing critically acclaimed titles that cater both to the eastern and western market. It would allow them to strengthen Sony's positioning as producers of high quality 1st party exclusive content. Yet, in terms of commercial impact it would match Bethesda's acquisition at best (although I have some doubts about it), let alone Activision...it would most likely hurt Nintendo (for Monster Hunter) more than Microsoft.

- Namco-Bandai ($ 15.6 blillion) none of their IPs is big enough to really make an impact and it is even more expensive and diversified than the other companies mentioned here. So a big no.

Western companies

- Ubisoft ($ 7.5 billion) they are a very diversified game company, with a very diversified IP portfolio and a lot of internal game studios. It could make sense if Sony wanted to focus on quantity to make their own version of game pass but perhaps only Assassin's Creed can compare to Activision's largest IPs. That said. since they are very diversified and structured to support basically any platform, a lot of internal restructuring would likely be needed for them to work effectively as a 1st party company. So it's not entirely bad but not ideal either.

- Take-Two ($ 17.6 billion) can seem like a good option, mainly due to GTA and RDR. The problem here is the fact it is we are talking about a huge investment for basically one large studio and two IPs. While it's true GTA could potentially tip the scales in Sony's favor it is a huge risk as well. Producing a new GTA is a colossal endeavor both financially and in terms of times allocation and, let's face it, there is no guarantee they can replicate the same success of GTAV.

- Electronic Arts ($ 37.9 billion) it's really a no brainer. It's the 3rd party publisher with the most similar positioning compared to Activision. It would be the perfect counter since they have the technology, lots of studios and IPs (both active and dormant). Additionaly they have Battleflied - the only military shooter that could counter COD - and FIFA - the perfect cash cow that would likely seal market dominance in the EU. It's definitely the publisher I would go after if I had infinite cash. Too bad Sony is not Microsoft.

- Epic games (estimated $ 29 billion in Apr 2021). Seems just slightly more doable than acquiring EA, strategically it could make sense since they have both Fortnite and Rocket League, they would control and get revenue streams from UE technology, with the Epic store they could even get a serious foothold in the PC market. Still it doesn't seem very doable financially and I don't think Tencent would let go their shares to a Japanese company.

So after considering everything, even if they really wanted to make big acquistions I don't think they are in the position to really counter MS at their game. Probably out of these options, if I had to choose, Capcom is the only one I would consider and maybe I would consider the possibility of buying From Software from Kadokawa. Not really to counter MS, but to strengthen Sony's position as an exclusive publisher.