Sony To Acquire Bungie
Another Major Shake-up
It was announced last night via The Playstation Blog that Japanese tech behemoth Sony are set to acquire Bungie in a $3.6 billion dollar deal. By purchasing the company responsible for developing both the Halo and Destiny franchises, Sony aims to, “reach billions of players.”
Interestingly, the Halo franchise has been a huge factor in boosting the popularity of Microsoft’s Xbox in years past. To see the franchise now be owned by Sony is a fascinating concept to long time fans of console gaming.
This significant deal follows another monumental deal that took place earlier in January. This was when Microsoft announced their plan to purchase videogame titan Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion dollars in the largest deal ever seen in the gaming industry.
Whilst Sony Playstation failed to provide any sort of timeline for when they expect the deal to actually go through, president and chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan did provide a statement with regards to the deal;
“This is an important step in our strategy to expand the reach of PlayStation to a much wider audience. We understand how vital Bungie’s community is to the studio and look forward to supporting them as they remain independent and continue to grow.”
Historical Relevance
Microsoft originally purchased Bungie back in 2000 and the game that the team were developing at the time was called Halo: Combat Evolved. The game went on to become a launch title for the original Xbox and the Halo series became a flagship franchise for the Microsoft console.
The Halo franchise has sold millions of copies across its 16 games and has had a huge hand in helping to popularise various Xbox consoles with the gaming audience over the last 20 years.
Back in 2007, Bungie broke free of Microsoft and made the transition to operate as an independent business. That said, one of the major conditions of the separation agreement was that Microsoft would get to keep the valuable Halo IP.
Bungie In The Modern Day
As of 2022, Bungie are based in Washington state and employee 900 members of staff. The terms of this new deal with Sony mean that Bungie can continue to operate as an independent developer and if they so wish, can also continue to publish their own games going forward. If Sony are to acquire Bungie and this deal doesn’t fall through at any point, this will remain the case even after the takeover is finalised.
Bungie have stated that they are currently working on expanding the universe of Destiny 2, which they have continued to supports since its release in 2017. Bungie’s chief executive and chairman Pete Parsons, had this to say about the deal;
“Both Bungie and SIE believe that game worlds are only the beginning of what our IP will become. Our original universes have immense potential and, with SIE’s support, we will propel Bungie into becoming a global multi-media entertainment company dedicated to delivering on our creative vision,”
What do you think of the fact that Sony are set to acquire Bungie, signalling yet another huge corporation gobbling up an independent developer? Let us know down in the comments section below.
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