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The trend of the gaming industry is consolidation. A few weeks ago, Take-Two Interactive announced the acquisition of Zynga for $12.7 billion. Take-Two, the company behind Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and many other popular series, has now added a mobile game giant. In 2021, Sony bought up to 6 game studios, and Microsoft announced the acquisition of ZeniMax for more than 8 billion USD.

However, there is no deal more shocking than Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to an announcement from the $2 trillion company, they agreed to pay more than $68 billion to acquire the publisher behind Call of Duty. As soon as the news that shook the whole industry was released, Sony stock immediately "plunged" into an unprecedented plunge. Causing the company to lose more than 20 billion USD in market capitalization.

Why did Sony stock plummet when Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard?


Separate gamers from favorite games

Two consecutive acquisitions of Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax made a series of popular games fall into the hands of a single company. Call of Duty, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, etc. Forrester analyst Will McKeon-White told Yahoo Finance: “When there are too many games falling into Some huge organizations, I'm really worried."

If you are a Microsoft player then this is good news. Because the games above will all be available on Xbox and PC. And if you are a player of Nintendo, Sony, ... this information may make you appear worried when your favorite games are removed. Despite the fact Nintendo gamers are rarely swayed by rival games.

Usually, console companies will use exclusive game titles to attract players. For example halo on Xbox, Uncharted on PlayStation and Super Mario Bros on Nintendo. Therefore, 3rd party game studios play an extremely important role in the industry, providing quality game titles that are not restricted to any platform.

If a game is successful, the studio will try to bring it to as many platforms as possible, from PC to console or even mobile. The more people that reach the game, the more opportunities the company has to make money. That's when 3rd party studios are not bound by exclusive contracts.

However, as the trend of mergers and acquisitions spreads in the industry, such cross-platform games are in danger of disappearing. From 3rd party games that are not tied to any platform, they are now turned into first party games, released only on the platforms of the owned company. For example, Starfield is exclusive to PC and Xbox at Microsoft's discretion, bypassing Sony and Nintendo platforms.

Microsoft is service-oriented

There are 3 reasons you can see quickly to understand why Microsoft spends nearly 70 billion USD. First, it makes gamers unable to leave their Xbox platform, which is far behind PlayStation. Second, the company can make the Game Pass package more attractive, ensuring more titles on this site. Finally, acceleration in the mobile gaming segment.

Of these, the second reason is the biggest. Microsoft is selling Game Pass for $15/month, allowing you to play more than 100 different games regardless of hardware. Players can access from smartphones, tablets, laptops or even smart TVs. They are aiming for a service like Netflix, the addition of Activision Blizzard to the game library certainly makes it even more attractive in the eyes of users.

Reduce the attractiveness of rival platforms

If Microsoft decides that future Activision Blizzard games will not appear on the PlayStation, it will be a loss to the Sony user community. Of course, the Japanese company also has quality exclusive titles like Spider-Man, Gran Turismo, Rachet & Clank, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, etc. However, Microsoft's addition is really worth it. be afraid.

Analyst Junya Ayada added that the acquisition comes at a difficult time for Sony. When PS5 slowed down because of limited supply, making it very difficult for customers to buy the device. Development of top games has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with reduced productivity as many people have to work remotely. There have been a number of blockbusters on PS5 that had to leave the release date.

Just a temporary hype

However, analysts from JP Morgan are still optimistic that Sony shares will recover soon. Maybe investors are overreacting to this news, but in the long term, Sony still has a lot of growth potential. They still have a lot of other businesses that are doing pretty well, especially the studio with the recent release of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Many people believe that Sony will make an acquisition of a major game company in response to this passive situation. However, analyst Kota Ezawa thinks otherwise. According to him, the PlayStation platform can find customers in a different direction, focusing on making profits from the service network associated with anime, movies, and music. He thinks that Sony does not need to race to buy.



Many analysts also agree that the stock plunge is just a temporary hype. Because the video game business only contributes 30% of revenue and about a quarter of profit for the corporation. They don't just live off of PlayStation. Naoki Fujiwara, from Shinkin Asset Management, said: “Games are an important source of revenue for Sony, but they still have many other branches such as electronics, sensors, movies, …”.
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The crypto market will enter a super cycle as new money is being poured in through stablecoins.

According to Bloomberg, Mr. Harry Yeh commented that although it is currently a difficult period when the entire market corrects sharply, stablecoins are bringing a lot of positive news. The opportunity for a crypto supercycle is now

According to Bloomberg, Mr. Harry Yeh commented that although it is currently a difficult period when the entire market corrects sharply, stablecoins are bringing a lot of positive news. The opportunity for a crypto supercycle exists. A scenario where Bitcoin hits the $400,000 mark will appear.

Although there is no formal definition, a supercycle is a period in which the price of an item increases continuously over an extended period of time, often up to 10 years or more.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies created to minimize the impact of price fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market by pegging them to USD. Some prominent stablecoins that are widely used by many people can be mentioned as USDT issued by Tether company, TerraUSD (UST) of Terra ecosystem or BUSD of Binance.

Mr. Yeh believes that as stablecoins gain popularity and support, the crypto market will also be affected. The next phase of growth will be stronger than other cycles in the past.

The fund manager Quantum believes that stablecoins have solved the liquidity problems and low transaction costs of Bitcoin or Ethereum. Stable money gradually comes to life, becoming a payment method in daily transactions.

“Cryptocurrency is still wild. I think we are only halfway through the current bull cycle. In 2017, there weren't any stablecoin projects. We have a lot now. This is a sign that cryptocurrencies are being widely adopted by society. The signal for a super cycle is about to happen”, shared Harry Yeh.

Bitcoin started 2022 with a long slide towards the $40,000 mark on January 9, Harry thinks the market will stabilize and rally again. The founder of the Quantum fund made a prediction of $400,000 for Bitcoin, based on the macroeconomic situation such as the action of the US Federal Reserve (FED) deciding to raise interest rates.

Despite raising interest rates, the Fed continued to regularly pump money into the market. According to Mr. Harry, Bitcoin is still the choice of many investors to avoid inflation. Bitcoin is currently trading around $42,000, down nearly 40% from its peak of $68,000 in early November 2021.
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For a long time, the Galaxy S machines sold in Vietnam are often the opposite of using Samsung's homegrown Exynos processor. However, new leaked information shows that this year's Galaxy S22 may change.

Twitter user Dohyun Kim recently provided detailed information about the Galaxy S22 versions sold by regions around the globe. Accordingly, the whole of Europe will receive Galaxy S22 phones using Exynos 2200.

Similarly, regions of North and South America, East Asia, Southeast Asia (India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand) ) and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand) will be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 version of the Galaxy S22. West Africa and the Middle East will be a combination of the two, possibly on a country-by-country basis.

This list already tells us one thing: Samsung has increased the use of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 on the Galaxy S22 more than in previous generations. Reports from the beginning of last year have stated that the production of Exynos 2200 is limited because the production capacity on the Samsung N4P process of the Korean electronics company is not as expected. That forced Samsung to integrate Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipsets for the Galaxy S22 in more markets.

According to initial information, the Exynos 2200 processor achieved unimpressive results on Geekbench, a test of the CPU's processing ability. However, the integrated AMD RDNA2 GPU inside this processor is still something to look forward to.
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The total market capitalization of Bitcoin has not yet returned to the $800 billion threshold.

The total market capitalization of Bitcoin has not yet returned to the $800 billion threshold. Compared to the record high of $68,700 per coin set on November 10, Bitcoin has dropped by nearly 40% in price.

“Bitcoin prices fell along with other risk assets as interest rates and energy costs continued to rise this week,” commented Edward Moya, a financial expert at consulting firm Oanda (based in London). with Zing.

Important threshold 40,000 USD

Bitcoin is considered by many as a form of "digital gold", which will benefit in an uncertain economic and financial environment. However, according to observers, cryptocurrencies now behave more like risk assets. Therefore, when interest rates rise, the opportunity cost of holding Bitcoin increases, which in turn drives investors to sell off.

“Bitcoin price continues to plunge. The currency seems to be more vulnerable to not being able to bounce back strongly from recent lows,” said Craig Erlam (London-based) financial expert.

“Price recovered somewhat last week, but quickly encountered resistance at $45,000” he commented.

According to the expert, all investors are focusing their attention on the important level of 40,000 USD/VND. Because if it falls below this level, the Bitcoin price could see an even sharper drop.

“If easing monetary policy has been one of the main ‘catalysts’ that have helped Bitcoin boom over the past two years, then the crypto world could enter a more difficult 2022. By central banks. Central banks around the world, including the US Federal Reserve, are moving into tightening mode," Erlam argued.

“It is very difficult to predict the price of Bitcoin in the short term, especially when the market becomes more negative,” he commented. According to the expert, Bitcoin has ceased to function as a safe-haven asset.

“Cryptocurrencies are likely to continue to come under pressure as the Fed reduces the amount of money injected into the economy,” said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors.

"Bitcoin price could end 2022 below $20,000" the expert warned.

Finance professor Carol Alexander at the University of Sussex even warned that the price of Bitcoin will fall to the threshold of 10,000 USD by 2022, erasing all gains in the past 2 years.

Tighten control

According to Oanda expert Moya, the Kosovo ban on cryptocurrency mining is also bad news for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The Kosovo government's ban is intended to defuse the country's energy crisis.

After Kosovo's announcement, Bitcoin miners had to sell off mining equipment. “They sell devices or try to move to neighboring countries,” CryptoKapo, the administrator of some of the largest crypto communities in the region, told The Guardian.

Previously, Bitcoin miners targeted Kosovo because it has the cheapest electricity in Europe, partly because more than 90% of electricity in the country comes from burning lignite reserves and subsidizing the government.

In recent years, the number of cryptocurrency miners in Kosovo has skyrocketed. Groups like Albanian Crypto Amateurs on Facebook, Crypto Eagles on Telegram explode with thousands of new members.

According to the latest Cambridge University calculations, Bitcoin mining globally consumes 125.96 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, surpassing Norway (122.2 TWh), Argentina (121 TWh), the Netherlands (108). 0.8 TWh) and the United Arab Emirates (113.20 TWh).

Meanwhile, Kosovo is facing an energy crisis. Power outages occurred continuously across the country in the last days of 2021. At the height of the crisis, the country had to import about 40% of its energy from the international market.

In April, the Bitcoin price also plunged from its peak after the Chinese authorities tightened controls on Bitcoin mining and trading.

“Ether prices also fell as crypto investors looked to diversify their portfolios,” explained Moya at Oanda. “They are not only investing in the top cryptocurrencies, but also paying attention to alternative cryptocurrencies that are in the growth phase,” he added.

According to him, Cardano, Solana and Terra are all on the upswing. The price of Ether - the world's second largest cryptocurrency - saw a decrease of 2.64% from 24 hours earlier to $3,000 per coin. Over the past seven days, the coin has lost nearly 6% in value.

Meanwhile, Terra - the world's sixth largest cryptocurrency - saw a 5.56% increase from a day earlier to $79.49 per coin.
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A Samsung support page for everything, Bixby, may have just given us our first official look at the company's upcoming flagship tablet. This photo was discovered by 91Mobiles and shows a familiar Samsung smartphone combined with a strange looking tablet.

Interestingly, the screen of this tablet has a notch, which is something that Samsung laughed savagely when the iPhone X was first released. Sources suggest, this new tablet is called Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra and could be announced as early as next month.

The design inside the image on Samsung's website is quite similar to the unofficial render of this tablet in October, the leaked images from December and the details that WinFuture posted this month. If those unofficial details are true, this Android tablet will have a 14.6-inch OLED screen, 2960x1848px resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The notch is said to house two 12MP selfie cameras. The exact purpose of the second sensor is unknown, but other devices have added an ultra-wide camera for group selfies.

Inside, this tablet will be equipped with Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of internal memory and an 11,200mAh battery. This device will also support S Pen stylus, as well as 5G connectivity options, and 2 cameras located at the back, including a 13MP main camera and a 6MP ultra-wide camera.

Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra will definitely be the most advanced product in the list of 3 new tablets, including Galaxy Tab S8 and Galaxy Tab S8 Plus. All three of these tablets will feature the same processor and support for the S Pen stylus, but the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus is expected to feature a smaller 12.7-inch OLED display and a 10,090mAh battery. while the basic Galaxy Tab S8 uses an 11-inch LCD screen and an 8,000mAh battery.

There is no official information regarding when the new Galaxy Tab S8 series of tablets will appear, but with the Galaxy S22 series being reported to launch on February 8, it should come as no surprise that these tablets will be released. was launched alongside this flagship smartphone series.
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Like last year, iPhone continued to be the most popular smartphone line in Q4 2021 with impressive sales, despite facing many supply constraints globally.

Corona virus affects Apple, the problem of limited supply globally makes things more difficult for all other manufacturers.

However, according to market research center Canalys (based in Singapore), Apple took the top spot in Q4 2021 with 22% share of the global smartphone market, Samsung came in second place. when owning 20%.

Even so, it can be seen that the manufacturer from Korea is getting closer to the No. 1 position when increasing 3% over the same period in 2020 (17%). Part of helping Apple overcome supply difficulties is that the iPhone 13 is supported at a discount in China.

Apple accounted for 22% of total smartphone shipments worldwide in Q4 2021, thanks to strong demand for the iPhone 13 series. But total shipments for the quarter increased by only 1% due to supply chain difficulties and the resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

Manufacturer Samsung was in second place, down from the top spot in the third quarter of 2021 when it reached 20% market share. maintaining the 3rd position with 12% market share. OPPO and Vivo are in the top 5 with 9% and 8% market share.

Canalus analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said: "Apple has returned to the top of the smartphone market after three quarters, thanks to the excellent performance from the iPhone 13 series. Apple has seen the number of iPhones sold. unprecedented in China" .

However, according to Canalus, supply constraints for iPhones helped manufacturer Samsung close the gap in Q4. Bloomberg news agency also reported in December that component shortages forced Apple to reduce production volumes, although there were comments that the company was not optimistic about its ability to recover in the near term.
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Subaru launched the brand's first pure electric station wagon Solterra at the Los Angeles Auto Show last year. At the recent Tokyo Modified Car Exhibition, Subaru announced the new Solterra STI Concept. With the support of STI's kit, the exterior of Solterra looks It also looks more stylish.

The Solterra STI Concept is the same as the STI kits of other models. Its pink spoiler is embellished on the front chin, body side skirts, spoilers on both sides of the rear, etc.

The black roof spoiler with the words "STI" is quite Eye-catching; its black painted wheel frame also adopts STI trim panel for color jumping design, which makes the overall shape more vivid.

Although Subaru has not yet announced whether these kits will be mass-produced and sold, the Subaru Solterra, as a car model launched in November last year, is expected to be launched in Japan, the United States, Canada, Europe and China after the middle of this year.

Fang is not necessarily in a hurry to bring these appearance kits to the market right away. However, Subaru fans who have a complex relationship with STI may wish to preview the appearance of the Solterra STI appearance kit now, and consider whether to start it in the future.
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