They'll have to go into debt because unless they plan to sell assets, they don't have the cash to do that. 

There are a few things money is at historically low levels,Sony's CFO stated in a financial statement after the Zenimax takeover that they had the means to make large scale acquisitions beyond the cash they had already set aside toward any future purchases,  11 billion US in cash and another 16 billion in liquid assets  giving them 27 billion liquidity without needing to touch their lines of credit, he also mentioned that their liquidity was growing at record levels (I read somewhere iirc around 400%) and he also stated the reason he made the statement was to clear the air regarding speculation that Sony didn't have the means to make these size acquisitions and if they did it would come with excessive debt levels or impact their cash flow, he again further emphasised that he was about clearing  up those misconceptions and this didn't mean they were making any such acquisitions and also importantly it also didn't mean if they did they would be done  just by using up their cash/ liquidity reserves in one hit.

Another aside when it comes to their capacity to obtain credit and it may not have anything to do with this is I recall sony making news for buying out and reincorporated their banking service.

Can you link that by any chance?

id love for sony to buy konami and make more metal gear ,and silemt hillls

I'll try to find it, it was in one of Sony's quarterly or yearly statements but I can't remember the exact one, I do recall the figures used rather than being part of the financial figures in the usual manner you see for for those quarterly yearly statements, they were used by the CFO in a more demonstrative manner since he was making a comment , that's what made me remember it since iirc he started by mentioning this was a comment and not part of the figures, I'm also pretty sure it was here on VGChartz where I read the statement if that helps I'm sorry that I don't have it at hand atm.

Sony need not respond in any way. They likely have unannounced deals and partnerships they've already been working on for months to a year ago that have yet to bear fruit.

They were in a position of strength before Xbox's Activision acquisition and that hasn't changed. Sony is still in an excellent position and shouldn't start chasing easter eggs just to fill their basket. A better path would be to fortify their current strategy and build upon their current successes.

Rushing to just make some quick headlines for publicity may cause an unforced error. There is no need to panic the shareholders or the customer.

Game companies nowadays are empty carcasses with replaceable drones of artist, developers and management. There are no tangible assets except for older IPs. Just put your money into developing new games within your existing framework. $25 billion could fund ~100 AAA exclusive games considering that Cyberpunk is the most expensive game at $330 million.

I think the main problem here is that Sony is forced to consider acquisitions. Personally I think its not really necessary, as Sony has an incredibly strong first party lineup. However, if your main competitor is buying up the rest of the industry its going to force Sony to rely completely on their first party lineup. I think Sony is about 5-10 years away from being in a position similar to Nintendo (maybe less). MS is making those moves now and should have consequences in the next 2-3 years if not sooner.

Its forcing Sony's hand. They need to start thinking of themselves as a competing content service provider in the same vein as Microsoft. If Microsoft plans to be the Netflix of gaming Sony needs to be prepared. The only way to prepare for this in the short term is medium to large acquisitions that guarantees a certain fanbase or audience to seriously consider their service. Provided Sony can actually afford it I would say a western dev is needed such as EPIC, EA or Take Two and additionally a established bigger Japanese dev like Capcom.

Reasoning here is that any of the bigger Japanese publishers have content that would bolster any subscription content service model similar to Gamepass.

With regards to EA, EPIC or Take Two - various reasons for either. EPIC has unreal engine and Fortnite. Take Two have major single player IP and now a massive mobile footprint. EA is EA.

The obvious solution?

Gamepass on Playstation.

What's the point of owning an Xbox then. An extra 1.something tflop?

It's literally staring me in the face, it's that obvious.

So then MS can stop making hardware, while continuing to consolidate the software market into GP?

Leave SNY with only it's first party and potentially few hold out partnerships, while having to produce the hardware?

I'm pretty sure SNY ain't that dumb.