Sony Interactive Entertainment, one of the biggest in the game industry, announced a big development yesterday. The company announced that it acquired Bungie, the studio for major productions such as Halo and Destiny, for $3.6 billion. This deal has also been confirmed by Bungie.
On the other hand, it was also suggested that Bungie will take place as an “independent subsidiary” within Sony. In other words, Bungie will not lose its multiplatform studio feature, although it is included in the developer company of PlayStation.
PlayStation Wants to Improve The Gaming Experience
SIE President and CEO Jim Ryan stressed that the main motivation for Bungie’s purchase was to bring PlayStation to a wider audience and improve the gaming experience in the official statement.
Jim Ryan gave the following words about Bungie:
“Bungie has created two of gaming’s most iconic franchises, Halo and Destiny, and has deep expertise in bringing incredible immersive experiences at great scale to the community through games that evolve and develop over time, and has a hugely impressive roadmap for future content.
Bungie’s successful track record in multi-format publishing and live game services will assist us in realizing our ambitions to take PlayStation beyond the console and increase our potential audience.
This is a strategic step towards continuing to evolve the gaming experiences that we build. Bungie’s expertise in delivering a world-class service approach and long-term community engagement is extremely compelling and will support the development of several future live services titles from PlayStation Studios.”
On the other hand, after this acquisition, some hesitations arose among players about whether Bungie will start developing games for PlayStation exclusive.
In the statement made by Bungie, this issue was clarified and it was stated that Destiny 2 will offer cross-platform support.
Hermen Hulst, who is head of PlayStation studios, stated that they will benefit from Bungie’s technical competence and community-building knowledge.
Hulst drew attention to the following points:
“Bungie’s technical expertise, coupled with their track record of building highly engaged communities, make them a natural fit for a collaboration with PlayStation Studios. We are excited to make plans to share skills and expertise, and to unlock the potential in having the brilliant minds at Bungie under the PlayStation roof.”
Bungie Aims To Become A Global Multimedia Company
In the statement made by Bungie, it was stated that this acquisition paved the way for the company to become a “global multimedia entertainment company”.
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said in a statement:
“Our original universes have immense potential and, with SIE’s support, we will propel Bungie into becoming a global multimedia entertainment company dedicated to delivering on our creative vision.”
Daniel Ahmad, the analyst at global gaming market intelligence provider Niko Partners, highlighted the financial significance of this acquisition.
Ahmad stated that Sony aims to expand its live service offerings with the acquisition of Bungie in light of the following data:
“Sony stated last year that 25%+ of its PlayStation Store spend in FY20 was from F2P games such as Fortnite and Genshin Impact. This was up from 5% in FY16. The company has been exploring various growth vectors as outlined in its IR Day last year.”
