Sony Acquires Bungie For $3.6 Billion: Here Are The Details

Just right after Microsoft acquired a massive video game studio, Activision Blizzard, for a whopping $68.7 billion, Sony has now announced that it is also buying a video game studio -- Bungie, which is known for video games like Destiny. Sony will pay $3.6 Billion to Bungie an American video game developer company, started in 1991.

Sony has confirmed that even after the acquisition, Bungie will remain as a multi-platform studio and will self-publish games and reach players. This means the upcoming Bungie games will not be limited to the Sony Playstation platform.

After this deal, although Bungie will become a part of Sony, it will continue to as an "independent subsidiary" of Sony Interactive Entertainment or SIE with a board of directors. This includes Pete Parsons, the CEO and chairman of Bungie along with the current management team of Bungie.

Currently, the studio is maintaining Destiny 2, which is a cross-platform title, available on Sony PS, Xbox, and PC. And SIE also confirms that the studio is also working on new IP and has plans to expand the Destiny franchise. Hence, we can expect the next iteration of Destiny 2 to launch in the upcoming years on all major video gaming platforms.

Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan said that SIE has had a strong relationship with Bungie since its inception day of the Destiny franchise, and he is thrilled to welcome Bungie to the Sony Playstation family.

Bungie Has A History With Microsoft

Do note that, this is not the first time a gaming platform owner has acquired Bungie. Back in 2000, Microsoft acquired Bungie, which lead to the creation of Helo, which was an exclusive title available during the launch for the very first Xbox or the Xbox 1, which launched in 2001.

Then, the studio become independent post the launch of Halo: 3 in 2007. Even after going independent, Bungie made Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach for Microsoft. Later, it signed to deal with Activision, which lead to the creation of the Destiny video game franchise.

Although SIE says that Bungie will continue to work as an independent studio, we believe Sony has some exclusive plans just like Microsoft's interest in Activision Blizzard. Video gaming platforms are now working hard to ensure they have some control over at least some studios, which will give them exclusivity on the upcoming video games.

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