If Sony doesnt go and buy Take2 and use GTA as a bargaining chip then I just dont see Sony continue to be the force they are today.
The CoD pie affects everything from their PS+ subs to their digital store sales to ALL the F2P and other shooter audience cod has helped them cultivate. Will fortnite be as big on PS with half of the CoD audience gone? Doubt it.
Sony will have to severely downscale their operations to match what Nintendo is doing. Cheaper hardware. Way fewer AAA first party games. Way cheaper games. They wont have any money for third party exclusives like FF which is a good thing for those of us who hate moneyhats but you just know MS will sweep in to get those moneyhats so I dont see Sony getting many more FF games, at least on day one.
Nintendo is still very successful with their handheld only approach, but tbh, they are as irrelevant to me as ouya. I want big AAA exclusives, not the small quirky stuff they put out nowadays with their only AAA games like Zeldas, Metroids and Marios taking 6+ years to make. If thats the Sony we have to settle for in the future then thats a depressing thought.
The most interesting thing to see would be exactly how soon this happens. Sony will be in denial for the first few years. they might even go buy Square Enix or some other smaller FPS studios. But everyone other than CMA knows that Sony is now on borrowed time. Without CoD, their revenue drops by 30% minimum and that will affect their bottomline. Investors will know this. I wonder if pressure is put on Sony to sell to Apple or Amazon.
GTA acquisition is the only thing that can help them retain their dominance but as of right now, even if Sony isnt going to die anytime soon and might even reinvent themselves like Nintendo did, they simply wont be the juggernaut they are today.