On Jan. 31, 2022, entertainment giant Sony announced that they had purchased Bungie, the studio behind such major hits as Destiny 2 and the Halo franchise. The company was reportedly purchased by Sony for approximately $3.6 billion dollars. In a blog post, Head of PlayStation Studios Herman Hulst cited Bungie’s “technical expertise” as the primary reason behind the purchase. Additionally, Hulst stated that Sony plans on both continuing development on existing Bungie projects and developing new, currently unannounced titles in the future.
Addressing player concerns, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan confirmed that Bungie will remain a multi-platform studio moving forward. Titles such as Destiny 2 will remain available on Xbox, PC, and other competitor platforms, with further platform expansions planned in the future. Ryan described the arrangement as allowing Bungie to “remain independent and multi-platform” and “enjoy creative freedom” regarding both current and future projects.
On Twitter, GamesIndustry.biz president Christopher Dring reported that, in a conversation with Ryan, the SIE head had stated the acquisition of Bungie had been in the works for several months. It was reportedly not, as some gamers had speculated, a move made in response to either Take Two’s acquisition of Zynga or Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the latter of which made industry headlines due to setting Microsoft back nearly $70 billion in total.
In the interview, Ryan then went on to confirm that Sony plans to acquire more studios, hinting that players should “expect more” in the near future. However, he did not specify a concrete timeline for these potential acquisitions, nor drop any further hints regarding which studios they might be.
The deal was in the works for the past 5/6 months. Its not a reaction to the Take-Two/Zynga or Microsoft/Activision deals.
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) January 31, 2022
Other studios recently acquired by Sony include Firesprite, Housemarque, and Nixxes. It has also entered into a partnership with Bluepoint Studios to develop ports of popular titles including Demon’s Souls and the Uncharted series.
Elsewhere in gaming news, Square Enix Announces More Final Fantasy 7 Projects Are Coming.
What are your thoughts on Sony’s most recent purchase? Let us know!
