Sony Acquires Bungie, Destiny and Halo Creator, for $3.6 Billion

[Tsing]

Image: PlayStation



Some Xbox fans have wondered whether Microsoft might be buying Bungie back as part of its recent spree of game studio acquisitions, but it turns out that the Destiny developer and Halo creator is going to the opposite team instead.



As detailed in separate articles shared by PlayStation boss Jim Ryan and Bungie today, Bungie has joined Sony Interactive Entertainment as an independent, multi-platform studio and publisher. The deal is valued at 3.6 billion, according to GamesIndustry.biz, which was the first to report the news.



“[…] I want to be very clear to the community that Bungie will remain an independent and multi-platform studio and publisher,” Ryan clarified in his opening paragraph. “As such, we believe it makes sense for it to sit alongside the PlayStation Studios organization, and we are incredibly excited about the opportunities...

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[Grimlakin]

Because Sony/Playstation Studio's wants more of that sweet sweet PC money.

 

[Dan_D]

Because Sony/Playstation Studio's wants more of that sweet sweet PC money.

Well yes, but also they get the IP and whatever else Bungie is working on. Not only that, no one creates better feeling shooters than Bungie. It's a good studio to have in that regard. I do think they over paid though.

 

[Denpepe]

I find it strange they got bought so soon after splitting up with ActiBlizz at least that they were were open to that. Maybe the third time is the charm.

 

[Dan_D]

I find it strange they got bought so soon after splitting up with ActiBlizz at least that they were were open to that. Maybe the third time is the charm.

They most certainly structured the deal to be more beneficial this time from the sound of their announcement. The problem with the Microsoft buyout is that Microsoft literally only wanted Bungie to make Halo games and do nothing else. Bungie had almost zero control over what it did under Microsoft. It sounds like Sony is going to let Bungie do its thing for the most part.

At least, so long as the arrangement is beneficial to Sony's bottom line.

 

[Brian_B]

This is a return fire after MS got ActiBlizz. Sony needed to do something to appease investors.

This isn't a bad acquisition, MS's history with Bungie makes it very interesting actually. The fact that today Bungie is pretty much a one-horse show with D2 makes it an expensive purchase for just 1 title, but you are getting a well proven developer, Sony needs to convince (or give enough resources and support to) Bungie to branch out and start doing more and it could prove very worth while.

 

[Dan_D]

This is a return fire after MS got ActiBlizz. Sony needed to do something to appease investors.

This isn't a bad acquisition, MS's history with Bungie makes it very interesting actually. The fact that today Bungie is pretty much a one-horse show with D2 makes it an expensive purchase for just 1 title, but you are getting a well proven developer, Sony needs to convince (or give enough resources and support to) Bungie to branch out and start doing more and it could prove very worth while.

No, it isn't. These types of deals take months if not years to get to this point. This wasn't something that Sony decided to do a couple of weeks ago after MS announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This was something that occurred concurrently.

 

[Brian_B]

No, it isn't. These types of deals take months if not years to get to this point. This wasn't something that Sony decided to do a couple of weeks ago after MS announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This was something that occurred concurrently.

Maybe they had been tip-toeing around it for a while, but the timing of the announcement isn't just coincidence. I'm betting the $$$ is a lot larger than Sony originally wanted, but they caved just so they could get an announcement out sooner than later. It can't be anything other than a direct reaction to the ActiBliz acquisition.

 

[Dan_D]

Maybe they had been tip-toeing around it for a while, but the timing of the announcement isn't just coincidence. I'm betting the $$$ is a lot larger than Sony originally wanted, but they caved just so they could get an announcement out sooner than later. It can't be anything other than a direct reaction to the ActiBliz acquisition.

The deal had to be far along by that point. These things literally take months of due diligence with investigation and auditing before they get to this point. It was a lot more than tip-toeing. You might be right in that Sony said yes to the super high price rather than dragging negotiations out longer to get a better one in light of MS's acquisitions but this was close to a done deal for some time now.

People don't seem to realize just how complicated these types of acquisitions really are. These things are even worse when it involves publicly traded companies. Either the company being acquired or the one doing the acquisition have to get board approvals and all kinds of **** to make it happen.

 

[Brian_B]

People don't seem to realize just how complicated these types of acquisitions really are.

You can make an announcement before all the fine details are worked out and due diligence stuff you speak of. It happens all the time, and they even fall through after announcements are made. Sure, there needs to be serious intent, and that does take some time, but it's not like every single detail is hashed out before these things are made public.

Look at nVidia + ARM for a recent example. Even the MS / ActiBlizz deal likely won't be completed until 2023

 

[Dan_D]

You can make an announcement before all the fine details are worked out and due diligence stuff you speak of. It happens all the time, and they even fall through after announcements are made. Sure, there needs to be serious intent, and that does take some time, but it's not like every single detail is hashed out before these things are made public.

Look at nVidia + ARM for a recent example. Even the MS / ActiBlizz deal likely won't be completed until 2023

Except the deal had been in the works for months according to Sony. https://www.pcmag.com/news/sony-to-acquire-bungie-developer-behind-destiny-halo-franchises

 

[Grimlakin]

Except the deal had been in the works for months according to Sony. https://www.pcmag.com/news/sony-to-acquire-bungie-developer-behind-destiny-halo-franchises

I am betting the news leaked so they made an official announcement because they didn't want another studio like ea or Microsoft swooping in to make a purchase.

What would be really interesting is if a heavyweight like Apple came in and bought a studio to make some exclusive Triple A games for their m1 based Mac books and Mac pro systems.

 

[Dan_D]

I am betting the news leaked so they made an official announcement because they didn't want another studio like ea or Microsoft swooping in to make a purchase.

What would be really interesting is if a heavyweight like Apple came in and bought a studio to make some exclusive Triple A games for their m1 based Mac books and Mac pro systems.

I wouldn't expect the latter to occur. Apple never has cared about gaming. It's always been an afterthought on the Mac.

 

[Grimlakin]

I wouldn't expect the latter to occur. Apple never has cared about gaming. It's always been an afterthought on the Mac.

I just think it would be interesting to see if they can use thst to promote the capabilities of their m1 cpu systems. Or the lack of capability as it seems now. In truth it would be more of a marketing spend for Apple.

 

[Brian_B]

Apple never has cared about gaming.

Don't forget, Apple makes more from gaming with iOS than Sony, Microsoft, Activision, and Nintendo. Combined.

They don't care about first party gaming now, but that doesn't mean they don't care about gaming at all. Remember it was Steve Jobs that introduced the world to Halo when they were making a big push to get gaming on the Mac back in the Bondi Blue iMac days. There was even an Apple Console back in the day - the Pippen, which was licensed by Bandai for a little while in the early '90s. And they very much care about third party gaming in general today; it's one of their largest revenue streams.

Apple has never cared to develop or publish games themselves, but they have been through various phases with gaming-centric pushes throughout their history; it just has never been very successful until iOS and the App Store.

And others have said "optimized for M1" - well, M1 is an A-series derivative. Every single iPhone and iPad is running an A-series, so anything on the App Store could already run native on M-series machines. The big question is why they keep OS X and iOS markets completely separate. Or, from a slightly different perspective, why do iOS apps all have to cater to the lowest common denominator (touch input), when you can have keyboard/mouse and gamepad inputs on most devices as optional accessories -- not all games lend themselves to a touch interface. Apple's biggest detractor right now is their own API and Design Requirements for submission on the App Store - the Apple TV 4K on it's own would be a pretty capable console competitor if it were allowed to, and that's before we look at something like the M1 Mac Mini.