Sony acquires Destiny and Halo developer, Bungie
Just days after the news of Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard rocked the gaming world, Sony, their fiercest video game rival company, made sure they would not be left behind. In its efforts to expand the company’s already-wide range, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) announced its acquisition of fellow game developer Bungie, creator of the fan-favorite Destiny series and the renowned Halo franchise.
In a blog post on Bungie’s news website, the company’s CEO Pete Parsons disclosed that partnering with Sony is the culmination of its efforts to become a global multi-media entertainment company.
“In SIE, we have found a partner who unconditionally supports us in all we are and who wants to accelerate our vision to create generation-spanning entertainment, all while preserving the creative independence that beats in Bungie’s heart,” said Parsons.
Together, we share a dream of creating and fostering iconic franchises that unite friends around the world, families across generations, and fans across multiple platforms and entertainment mediums. Today, Bungie begins our journey to become a global multi-media entertainment company,” he added.
Although the amount was undisclosed in the blog, the deal is worth $3.6 billion according to reports from The Verge. That’s nothing compared to the $68.7 billion Microsoft paid for Activision who also bared plans for a revamp. Bungie’s independent rights, however, were not part of the deal. (Read: Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard: with the video game industry under new management, what’s going to change?)
“First off, I want to be very clear to the community that Bungie will remain an independent and multi-platform studio and publisher,” SIE President and CEO Jim Ryan said on SIE’s press release blog of their own. “Bungie’s world-class expertise in multi-platform development and live game services will help us deliver on our vision of expanding PlayStation to hundreds of millions of gamers,” he added.
Aside from keeping the creative freedom, Ryan also stated that Bungie’s current and future titles will remain multiplatform, meaning Destiny 2 and its upcoming expansion, The Witch Queen, will not be Sony-exclusive anytime soon and will still be published on other platforms, to the enjoyment of those playing the game on them.
“Everybody wants the extremely large Destiny 2 community, whatever platform they’re on, to be able to continue to enjoy their Destiny 2 experiences. And that approach will apply to future Bungie releases. That is unequivocal,” Ryan said in an interview with Games Industry.
“Bungie will operate autonomously within the Sony Interactive Entertainment organization, and they will continue to publish on other platforms.”
The acquisition makes Sony the second parent company to spearhead Bungie ever since it was created in 1991. The first to lead the company, however, was none other than Microsoft, who bought the company back in 2000. The two eventually parted ways in 2007.
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