Sony Buys Halo And Destiny Developer Bungie For $3.6B As The Internet Speculates What This Means For Gaming

The massive multimedia company Sony has entered into an agreement to buy the Halo and Destiny creator Bungie, with the bill coming up to $3.6 billion. This move comes just two weeks after Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, and signals a ramping up of game developers being snatched up by larger companies.

Though this acquisition doesn't seem to be solely motivated by gaming, as Sony does involve itself in movies and TV shows, which is what Bungie has been trying to crack for over a decade.

Breaking: Sony has announced they are acquiring Bungie for $3.6 billion

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) January 31, 2022

Bungie has limitless potential to unite friends around the world.

We have found a partner in PlayStation that shares our dream and is committed to accelerating our creative vision of building generation-spanning entertainment.

Our journey begins today.https://t.co/PLuVn48zdy pic.twitter.com/kAhRbAg3vD

— Bungie (@Bungie) January 31, 2022

The motivation behind Sony's acquisition of Bungie is to help boost their own abilities to make live-service, multiplatform games. equally, Sony unlocks the potential to Bungie to strengthen its technical capabilities and the prospect of taking its games to movies/TV

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) January 31, 2022

Since I’m seeing a lot of folks saying it: I don’t see a world in which Sony acquiring Bungie is a “response” to Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. These deals take months – even years – to put together and finalize, not two weeks.

— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) January 31, 2022

The immediate concern among gamers was the potential for Bungie games, current and future ones, to become PlayStation exclusive, which was quickly struck down by insiders with knowledge of the deal. This also put a lot of other game companies on alert, for some might be looking for potential buyouts themselves.

The way the Bungie deal is structured can be seen as a pull for other game studios, as they are reported to remain independent within the Sony umbrella, something that is not often said when a developer is taken over by a larger studio. What possibly makes this acquisition the most interesting is that Bungie themselves used to be part of both Microsoft and Activision, but managed to get themselves separated from each, leading to some interesting speculation online.

Sony's Bungie acquisition feels more like an Activision deal, as Bungie will remain independent inside SIE. This means Destiny doesn't go PlayStation exclusive, or any future Bungie games. "We will continue to independently publish and creatively develop our games." pic.twitter.com/wZJkUIlBQJ

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) January 31, 2022

In 2007, when Bungie spun out from Microsoft, they had an all-hands meeting and popped champagne.

In 2019, when Bungie split with Activision, they had an all-hands meeting and popped champagne.

Today they're all remote and heard the Sony news on a Teams call :(

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 31, 2022

- Take Two/Zynga
- Microsoft/Activision+Blizzard
- Sony/Bungie

And that was just JANUARY in the video game industry folks.

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) January 31, 2022

Interview with Jim Ryan and Bungie CEO Pete Parsons

- Future Bungie releases to remain multiplatform as well
- PlayStation interested in Bungie's live-service expertise
- Ryan wants to go "beyond" consoles
- 'Aggressive roadmap with live services'https://t.co/mh8TJKc403 pic.twitter.com/5decR5NBH8

— Nibel (@Nibellion) January 31, 2022