Sony Interactive Entertainment announced today that it has acquired the game developer Bungie (Destiny 2) for 3.6 billion USD.
This is the news: Sony announced today that it has acquired Bungie for 3.6 billion USD.
Bungie will continue as an independent subsidiary and will be overseen by current CEO Pete Parsons and the rest of the current management team.
Bungie remains independent and a multi-platform studio
Will Destiny remain on Xbox? Yes, it seems so. Sony states that Bungie will remain a “multi-platform studio” with the option to self-publish games and reach players wherever they want.
It is expressly emphasized that the acquisition by Sony should not affect the gaming experience on other platforms. There will be no “platform exclusives” in Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, the upcoming expansion.
The plan remains to continue developing Destiny until 2024 and “The Final Shape”. Cross-platform will also continue to exist.
Important step to increase the reach of PlayStation
This is what Sony says: CEO Jim Ryan says:
“We have had a strong partnership with Bungie since the beginning of the Destiny series, and I could not be more excited to officially welcome the studio to the PlayStation family.”
Jim Ryan, CEO Sony Interactive Entertainment
Furthermore, Ryan states that the acquisition of Bungie is an important step in the strategy to expand the reach of the PlayStation platform. They know how important the community is for Bungie and look forward to supporting Bungie on their journey as an independent and growing studio.
This is what Bungie says: Bungie emphasizes that with Sony, they have found a partner who supports them unconditionally and allows them the creative freedom that is at the heart of Bungie.
They believe that Sony, like Bungie itself, is convinced that the game worlds are just the beginning of what Bungie’s franchises can be.
Together, they want to develop “iconic game franchises” that are played around the world. Today, they take the step towards becoming a global multimedia entertainment company.
Bungie says: They can now hire more employees for Destiny 2
What impact will this have on Destiny 2? Bungie says that what players will immediately notice about Destiny 2 is that they will now hire “new employees” in their studio.
They will recruit for “all parts of Destiny 2” and for the worlds behind it.
In November 2020, Luke Smith admitted that Bungie probably would never be able to create such a large expansion as Forsaken (2018) for Destiny again after parting ways with Activision Blizzard. That seems to have changed now.
Sony says: No reaction to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard
This is what’s behind it: The acquisition of Bungie is of course seen as a direct response to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. However, Sony denies this.
Activision Blizzard stated that they had to sell because they no longer saw themselves as big enough for the “new world.” In this new world of entertainment, they compete with trillion-dollar companies like Apple, Facebook, or Google.
This marks the 3rd major acquisition in gaming 2022. Prior to this, Take-Two had already acquired the mobile developer Zynga.
The difference in the acquisition of Bungie by Sony compared to the other two major acquisitions is that Bungie is not a publicly traded company, and therefore, there is no acquisition offer, but rather it speaks directly of a purchase and not just an intention to buy.
Sony aims to develop more MMOs themselves
However, Sony says that the deal had already been in the works for 5 to 6 months and is therefore not a reaction to the other deals. With Bungie’s acquisition, they expect:
- the opportunity to develop more “MMOs” themselves – that is, “live-service multiplayer games”
- a gain in technical capabilities
- and the prospect of turning games into films and TV series
The acquisition is also likely a response from Bungie to the fact that Destiny 2 has not been able to develop further since parting ways with Activision Blizzard since 2019.
Update, February 1, 10:04 AM: Sony has explained in an interview what lies behind the acquisition of Bungie:
Destiny 2: Sony explains why they are buying Bungie – Wonderful, aggressive plans
