“Today, Bungie begins our journey to become a global multi-media entertainment company.”
That’s what Bungie, the studio behind the hit sci-fi MMO Destiny, reported today in a blogpost. Bungie will join the Sony Interactive Entertainment family, which includes Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games, Sucker Punch Productions, Bluepoint Games and other prominent studios. The deal will cost $3.6 billion.
The news came shortly after the Microsoft’s announcement on January 18th that it is about to acquire Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $68.7 billion
In fact, a lot of massive companies such as Microsoft, Sony and Tencent are in the process of acquiring as many studios as they can. These deals give the acquired companies financial stability, production support and wide-reaching marketing plans.
Bungie is considering this step as a starting point of a new era for the company, with a more focus on global multimedia entertainment, not just games. The CEO Pete Parsons, noted:
“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.”
Since its beginning in 1991, Bungie has always charted the future on its own unique way. The company promises that they are continuing their journey with new worlds in development, and that they can’t wait to share this with everyone.
Looking back in time, Bungie has been the original home of the Halo franchise, and it was part of the Microsoft family from 2000 to 2007. Halo is a pivotal series for Xbox consoles, and Bungie was its arbiter for nearly a decade under Microsoft. The studios split in 2007 and Bungie went private, and in 2010 it signed a publishing agreement with Activision for the Destiny franchise unttil 2019, when Bungie moved its publishing process in-house. From today, Bungie has Microsoft’s biggest rival, Sony, in its back pocket.
After the news of the Bungie acquisition spread out, Jim Ryan, SIE CEO, told GamesIndustry.biz:
“We should absolutely expect more. We are by no means done.”
Moreover, Jim Ryan confirmed Destiny 2 and Bungie’s future games are still going to be seen on platforms other than PlayStation.
