Posted in: Bungie, Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Video Games | Tagged: Bungie, destiny 2, Sony Interactive Entertainment

Sony Interactive Entertainment To Acquire Bungie For $3.6B

The Acquisition Wars have officially begun as Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed they will acquire Bungie Inc. for a total of $3.6B. The finer details of the deal were not revealed, but the broad strokes to this one are that Sony will essentially be bringing in Bungie's live game services and technology expertise into the fold of their operations, while Bungie will continue to operate out of their Bellevue, Washington offices as an independent entity with the ability to self-publish as they see fit. Once the acquisition is over, the company will be an independent subsidiary of SIE, and will be run by its Board of Directors headed up by Pete Parsons and Bungie's current team.

So on the surface, it appears that everything will remain status quo, for the time being. It's not like Destiny 2 will be leaving PC or Xbox, or any radical changes coming to their services moving forward. But if tomorrow Bungie decided to announce Destiny 3, it almost seems inconceivable that SIE wouldn't push to make that a PS5 exclusive. But that's a discussion for another day. The move to acquire the company is clearly in response to Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, which for the time being seems to be moving forward with plans to do the exact same thing; leaving AB to operate on their own. We'll see if Sony decides to acquire anyone else while they got the checkbook open, as there are other studios they could probably snatch up easily. We have several quotes from today's announcement for you below.

"Bungie has created and continues to evolve some of the world's most beloved videogame franchises and, by aligning its values with people's desire to share gameplay experiences, they bring together millions of people around the world," said Kenichiro Yoshida, Chairman, President and CEO, Sony Group Corporation. "As part of our Purpose to 'fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology', we will utilize the Sony Group's diverse array of entertainment and technology assets to support further evolution of Bungie and its ability to create iconic worlds across multiple platforms and media."

"We've had a strong partnership with Bungie since the inception of the Destiny franchise, and I couldn't be more thrilled to officially welcome the studio to the PlayStation family," said Jim Ryan, President and CEO, SIE. "This is an important step in our strategy to expand the reach of PlayStation to a much wider audience. We understand how vital Bungie's community is to the studio and look forward to supporting them as they remain independent and continue to grow. Like Bungie, our community is core to PlayStation's DNA, and our shared passion for the gamer and building the best place to play will now evolve even further."

"In SIE, we have found a partner that fully supports us and wants to accelerate our vision of creating meaningful entertainment experiences that span generations, all while valuing the creative independence that is the heartbeat of Bungie," said Pete Parsons, CEO and Chairman, Bungie. "We will continue pursuing our vision of one, unified Bungie community, building games that value our community and meet them wherever and however they choose to play. Both Bungie and SIE believe that game worlds are only the beginning of what our IP will become. Our original universes have immense potential and, with SIE's support, we will propel Bungie into becoming a global multi-media entertainment company dedicated to delivering on our creative vision."

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