Sony buys Bungie -apkrig
Sony has announced that it is purchasing the Bungie studio (Halo, Destiny series), which was previously independent but belonged to rival Microsoft between 2000 and 2007. But the $ 3.6 billion deal reportedly doesn’t change the fact that Destiny and all other future games from Bungie will remain cross-platform. The team does not make exclusive games on PlayStation. Sony Interactive Entertainment President Jim Ryan recalled that PlayStation had a very close relationship with Destiny since the release of Destiny.
Bungie say the business has no effect on their creative plan for Destiny. Developers, on the other hand, say they should retain some form of autonomy in the Sony structure. Formally, it is to be an independent subsidiary. Nevertheless, according to Jim Ryan, the goal of the acquisition is to expand the PlayStation brand to more and more audiences. “I spent a lot of time with Pete Parsons, Jason Jones and the Bungie managers to build the right relationship,” recalls PlayStation President. He commends the authors for the creation of the famous Halo or Destiny brands and emphasizes that Bungie will retain its freedom, independence and the studio will continue to make multiplatform games. PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst praises Bungie as a technology expert and for their ability to build dedicated communities. “I’ve been a fan of Bungie for many years. I admire and enjoy the games they make up, “said Hulst, and he also confirms that he spent a lot of time in the purchase negotiations.
Bungie says they found a partner at Sony who shares their dream. The team can publish its own games, Sony promises, and it’s up to him where he sends his titles. The question, of course, remains how long such a strategy will last. “Together we share the dream of creating and promoting strong brands. Today, our journey begins, from which Bungie becomes a global multimedia company, ”says Pete Parsons, CEO of the studio. In addition to Destiny 2, the team is currently working on another new IP. As a result of it, the Chinese giant NetEase also invested $ 100 million in Bungie in 2018 in exchange for a minority stake. The studio should release a new game by 2025.
Among other things, the business is interesting not only for the amount of the acquisition, but also for the very fact that Bungie is willing to reunite with the company that manufactures the specific console. At the same time, he tried for a long time to untie the team from the rival Microsoft in order to regain his freedom.
Well-known Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad believes that Sony wants to gain more experience in the field of free-to-play and live service games. This also corresponds to the announcement of the announcements by the participating companies. Many observers also point to the relatively high cost of the acquisition. For example, the respected editor of VentureBeat magazine, Jeff Grubb, talks about the premium price tag, although he emphasizes that the studio undoubtedly has a high value. It reminds also that Destiny is a favorite game of Microsoft’s head of gaming division Phil Spencer. Grubb openly calls it a war of acquisitions.
Jason Schreier zase points out to the fact that all participants managed to conceal the planned deal, similarly to the acquisition of Microsoft, which recently announced the purchase of the giant Activision Blizzard. Schreier explicitly mentions that several people from Bungie only found out from him today when he wanted to come up with the news himself first. The employees were not to find out officially until this morning at a joint meeting.
Studio Bungie is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Founded in 1991, the company employs about 900 people and, in addition to the aforementioned hits, also has a strategic series Myth and especially the classic FPS saga Marathon for Macs. In 2000, the team bought Microsoft, whose Xbox gave the first killer app in the form of Halo. Since 2007, Bungie has been independent again. However, the studio later had a relatively complicated relationship with Activision, which was the publisher of Destiny. Bungie withdrew from the planned ten-year partnership in 2019.
