AG@G: What is Bungie Developing For Sony?
Bungie Is Developing Something For Sony Following The Recent Acquisition Of The Studio, But What Could It Be?
I released my previous entry in the AG@G series in the wake of Sony acquiring Bungie and expressed my concern at the potential dark future that an all-out war of acquisition could bring with it. You can check that piece out here. Since then, one thing has persistently irked me; what the hell is Bungie developing for Sony?
In the same month that Sony’s main competitor Microsoft, purchases a studio with ownership of a multitude of IP’s spanning a multiple genres, Sony purchase a studio with one franchise to their name. Whilst I did discuss in my previous piece why the Bungie purchase was not a direct response to Microsoft buying Activision, it is still importance to note that these acquisitions made around the same time are not on the same scale.
There must be a reason; something that Bungie have in the pipeline in addition to Destiny 2 updates. It has been common knowledge within the industry for a while now that Sony are sorely missing a shooter from their first party line-up. When you consider how popular shooter games are, this is a huge potentially chunk of the market that Sony is missing out on.
In the PS2 era they had Killzone and although they did try to breathe new life into that series in the early days of the PS4 launch, the studio behind those games have moved onto bigger and better things in the form of the Horizon franchise. Unfortunately though, Guerilla expanding from developing futuristic FPS titles to an open-world action-adventure series has left Sony wide open on the shooter front.
The only other significant exclusive Sony shooter were the Resistance games. Again, as much as folk loved those games, the studio behind them have moved onto pastures new. With how well Sony’s first Spider-Man game sold, along with the current popularity of the character due to No Way Home, I don’t see Sony pulling Insomniac off of Spider-Man any time soon.
This distinct lack of a premium, notable, Sony-exclusive FPS has led many to believe that this is why Sony purchased Bungie, along with the Destiny IP. Although, I do not believe that another Destiny sequel is enough to provide what Sony are looking for within the FPS space.
Sony want something that is going to be exciting to gamers and inspire a significant level of hype. Based on the initially lacklustre commercial reaction to Destiny 2, I cannot see another entry in the Destiny franchise having that desired effect. To illustrate this point, let us rewind to late 2017.
In the first week after its release, the gaming echo-chamber was ablaze with reports of disappointing Destiny 2 sales figures. Sure, Destiny 2 did eventually outsell its predecessor, but that initial slump had certain industry CEOs in a panic for a time.
During that first week of sales following the launch of Destiny 2, figures were down an estimated 62% in comparison with the original game. This caused significant worry for Bungie at the time and had they not been able to turn things around in the long run, that poor sales result could have marked the end of the franchise.
That week in September 2017 was also pretty light in terms of other releases. The only other game of note that released was Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 for the Nintendo Switch, which was a console still in its honeymoon phase at the time. The only other title released that week was a Japanese visual novel called Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Not exactly a major competitor to a Destiny sequel.
My point is, as successful as Destiny 3 would be, it would likely not set the world on fire and that is what Sony are looking to do.
There are rumours that Sony’s State Of Play stream for March 2022 could be a significant showing. There is already speculation that Hogwarts: Legacy and God of War: Ragnarok could both make an appearance. What if in addition, we got a logo and an introduction into the brand new, totally original FPS that Bungie are developing exclusively for Sony?
Whilst this may sound like little more than a pipedream to some, I do believe that Bungie are hard at work on some sort of new IP for Sony and it is most likely a shooter. Whether we see this as soon as this month, or whether we see it revealed further down the line, I refuse to believe that Sony have put all of their FPS eggs in the Destiny basket.
Alas, all that we can do for now is speculate and be patient. In the meantime, I would love to hear what you think Bungie is currently working on. Do you expect to see them reveal a new IP at some point, or do you expect to see them stick to further developing the Destiny series? Let us know in the comments section below.
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