To finish off a month of groundbreaking moves in the industry, Sony buys Bungie
It must be a January for the ages, as news broke on Monday that Sony buys Bungie, the original developers for the Halo series, and the team behind the Destiny franchise. Bungie sold for $3.6 billion and the deal follows a recent number of blockbuster buyouts that the video game industry has never seen before.
Bungie now joins Sony Interactive Entertainment along with studios Insomniac Games, Guerrilla Games, Naughty Dog, and Sucker Punch Productions, all who have created exclusive franchises for the video game giant. Bungie has stated that they will still keep creative control over their video game franchises and will continue creating multi-platform games.
Following the news that Sony buys Bungie, Bungie CEO Pete Dawson released an official statement in regards to the move. “We remain in charge of our destiny. We will continue to independently publish and creatively develop our games. We will continue to drive one, unified Bungie community. Our games will continue to be where our community is, wherever they choose to play.”
Many questions were raised within the Destiny community and Bungie themselves have posted a FAQ with detailed explanations for most common questions and concerns. In sum, their plans for the Destiny 2 timeline going through 2024 will remain unchanged. With that said, some of the answers were vague and can cause some second guessing, including context containing “we want to” or that “we are committed to”. We all know wants and commitments aren’t always guaranteed.
Obviously, Sony buys Bungie because they are confident in both the developers and the Destiny community. Keep in mind that this acquisition comes just two weeks after Microsoft’s $69 billion buyout on Activision Blizzard. Sony wants to stay relevant and they did so purchasing one of the most successful game studios to date, and this won’t be their last money move as SIE CEO Jim Ryan has confirmed more acquisitions down the line for Sony.