By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Sony Corp. T: shares of NASDAQ (T) were traded Wednesday, after Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ :), a rival to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ :), acquired Activision Blizzard Inc. NASDAQ : in a $68.7 billion record deal.

The company’s Tokyo shares tumbled 10.22% to JPY12,775 ($111.41) by 11:58 PM ET (4:58 AM GMT).

The PlayStation (NYSE:) is often seen as leading the fight against Microsoft’s Xbox. However, the acquisition of Activision, the maker of the “Call of Duty” video game, will boost Microsoft’s aggressive expansion of its Game Pass subscription service.

In recent years Sony has increased its in-house gaming studio network, resulting in multiple hits like the “Spider-man” franchise. Microsoft struggled to keep up.

Amir Anvarzadeh (Asymmetric Advisors) warned that Sony will face a “major challenge” in order to win in the war of attrition.

Sony revealed a couple of details earlier in the month about the next-generation headset, a sign it’s adapting to new trends. Other market leaders like Meta Platforms owner Facebook (NASDAQ) are already ahead of the game by investing into the metaverse.

Activision is a significant source of revenue through PlayStation so any Microsoft attempt to get rid of titles on the PlayStation system could prove difficult.

Industry observers agree that operability on multiple platforms is crucial to creating a metaverse where users can freely shop and play.

Ever-advancing cloud technology is also weakening the appeal of the bulky gaming hardware that had thus far been Sony and Microsoft’s bread-and-butter.

Atul Goyal, a Jefferies analyst wrote that if Microsoft keeps providing these games for the PlayStation platform also that would indicate that the company may be positioning itself to metaverse over the long-term.