8 Terrifying Facts & Predictions About The Future Of Gaming

1. Prediction: A Conglomerate Approach To Franchise Ownership

For a hot minute there, it really seemed as though Sony were making moves to purchase Take Two (parent company to Rockstar and 2K), in a move that would've given them access to everything from GTA to Red Dead, NBA to Bioshock.

Thankfully that didn't happen, but it's not the first time a major conglomerate has tried to buy out a notable studio.

For the last few years, Ubisoft have been staving off a hostile takeover from Vivendi, a French conglomerate who sought to take over Ubi's various franchises going forward. Again, that has been resolved, but remember that going forward, we're entering into an era where video game catalogues are presented on streaming or all-digital archive apps/platforms.

It would massively benefit the likes of Sony and Microsoft to "lock down" catalogues like Rockstar's or Ubisoft's, if only to have a month or two of exclusivity.

There's too much money at stake for complete ownership (at least, I think there is), but a world where PlayStation advertises "And next month, we're hosting Rockstar!" is analogous to Netflix purchasing exclusive streaming rights to the likes of Friends - or other beloved properties - at least until another buyer comes along.

Think about it: Once the streaming services are up and running and all that first-party content is expended or made available, Sony and Microsoft will turn to third-parties, and their libraries will go to the highest bidder.