It's been the trend that acquisitions in the video games space has been hotting up with the likes of Take-Two, Sony, Embracer Group, Microsoft, and Electronic Arts, among others, announcing huge deals over the past few years. Meanwhile, Sony recently signalled that it intends to bolster its investment capabilities as the games industry continues to consolidate.
Perhaps then, in this heated environment, it wasn't surprising that rumours recently spread online that Sony was intending to acquire CD Projekt Red. This "news" caused widespread discussions, as you might imagine, what with the Polish game developer being responsible for some huge franchises, such as The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. The rumour originated from noted Destiny leaker Liz who shared that Sony was planning to acquire CDPR. These rumours then became so widespread that finally a CD Projekt rep had to step in to shoot it down.
The rumours have been spreading, with a number of Twitter accounts with high follower numbers contributing. But it goes to show how quickly rumours can turn into more widespread conversations even as the rumour has no truth to it. This is because a representative of CD Projekt Red, one Ola Sondej who is a public relations rep for the Warsaw-based studio, spoke out to put the rumour to rest:
In addition to the above, an ex-CDPR employee who was an executive producer on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners explained that if Sony were in talks to buy CDPR it would very quickly become public knowledge due to how the company is structured, especially since it is publicly listed. So this is one of those rumours that can be quashed now, as good as it was to provoke debate.
In fact, how easily the rumour lent itself to online discussion might've helped it to spread so quickly. Across forums and comment pages on social media, console war-style debates have been raging over Microsoft's proposed merger with Activision Blizzard and the fact that Sony is very much against the deal. A rumour that Sony is considering acquiring CDPR added fuel to these kinds of conversations, as talking points surround topics such as game exclusivity. But the debates hopefully can now cool down somewhat as we know they simply have no basis in reality. Still, it likely won't be enough to dampen the imaginations of some.