Gaikai deal a "strategic move" to sell more TVs by Sony, feels Pachter

Sony's acquisition of cloud gaming firm Gaikai has more to do with pushing Sony TVs than gaming hardware, according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Micheal Pachter.

Speaking to CVG, Pachter said that the purchase is more of a strategic move to keep its rivals away from using the service.

"I think that this is more related to Sony's integrated strategy, and ties into their hopes of selling more televisions. I know that Gaikai was purchased by Sony Computer Entertainment, but essentially, they provide a solution to play games without a console, so they make a lot of sense if built into Sony TVs," he said.

"This could be both a strategic move to sell more TVs and a pre-emptive move to keep others from using the service. It's actually a very interesting deal, and the price is reasonable if it gives Sony an advantage over other television manufacturers while keeping the technology off the market so that others can't eliminate the need for a console."

He also said that it isn't required for Microsoft to respond to this move since "they are making the [Xbox] console integral to the delivery of television content, so they have a different approach."

It was earlier confirmed today that Sony has bought Gaikai for $380 million.