Sony Acquires Bungie For $3.6 Billion

The video game indus­try con­tin­ues to go through major shake ups in the form of acqui­si­tions. Sony has decid­ed to pur­chase Halo cre­ator and Des­tiny devel­op­er Bungie, in a deal val­ued at $3.6 bil­lion. First report­ing on the deal, GI.biz clar­i­fied that Bungie will be an “inde­pen­dent sub­sidiary” of Sony Inter­ac­tive Enter­tain­ment. Sony offi­cial­ly con­firmed the deal and the val­u­a­tion in their own press release, with more details com­ing to light, like how Des­tiny will con­tin­ue to be pub­lished on mul­ti­ple plat­forms in the future.

PlaySta­tion Stu­dios head Her­man Hulst said of the acqui­si­tion, “I’m absolute­ly thrilled to wel­come Bungie to the PlaySta­tion fam­i­ly!” Hulst went on to add: “Bungie cre­ate com­mu­ni­ty-dri­ven games with out­stand­ing tech­nol­o­gy that are enor­mous fun to play, and I know that every­one at PlaySta­tion Stu­dios will be excit­ed about what we can share and learn together.”

Bungie will con­tin­ue to release mul­ti­plat­form games mov­ing for­ward, and the com­pa­ny will have the option to “self-pub­lish and reach play­ers wher­ev­er they choose to play,” as report­ed by GI.biz.

“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,” SIE pres­i­dent and CEO Jim Ryan said.

Ryan also stat­ed that buy­ing Bungie gives Sony access 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,” Ryan said.

Bungie boss Peter Par­sons remarked on the deal, say­ing, “Both Bungie and SIE believe that game worlds are only the begin­ning of what our IP will become.”

He con­tin­ued: “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.”

Bungie post­ed its own state­ment about the acqui­si­tion on its web­site, with Par­sons speak­ing on how Sony is a part­ner who “uncon­di­tion­al­ly sup­ports us in all we are…”

Par­sons also talked about how Bungie wish­es to expand beyond mak­ing games and become a “glob­al mul­ti­me­dia enter­tain­ment com­pa­ny.” Bungie has not announced any non-game projects as of yet.

Par­sons want­ed to stress that Bungie will con­tin­ue to have the cre­ative free­dom and the abil­i­ty to chart its own future after being acquired by Sony. “We will con­tin­ue to inde­pen­dent­ly pub­lish and cre­ative­ly devel­op our games. We will con­tin­ue to dri­ve one, uni­fied Bungie com­mu­ni­ty. Our games will con­tin­ue to be where our com­mu­ni­ty is, wher­ev­er they choose to play,” Par­sons said.

You can see Bungie’s full state­ment below:

Bungie Statement On Sony Acquisition

“We believe games have lim­it­less poten­tial, and that to do any­thing worth­while in enter­tain­ment, we must bet big on our vision, on our stu­dio, and on our incred­i­ble team of trust­ed cre­ators who build unfor­get­table worlds that tru­ly mat­ter to people.

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. Like us, SIE believes that game worlds are only the begin­ning of what our IPs can become. 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. 

CREATIVE FREEDOM

Since tak­ing flight in 1991, Bungie has always chart­ed the future with our own star map – a path that is dri­ven by our peo­ple and for our com­mu­ni­ty. We are con­tin­u­ing that jour­ney with new worlds in devel­op­ment, and we can’t wait to share them with you. ​With SIE, the poten­tial for our uni­vers­es is unlim­it­ed. Our future games will take bold steps into unex­plored spaces for Bungie, con­tin­ue to push the bound­aries of what is pos­si­ble, and will always be built on a foun­da­tion of cre­at­ing mean­ing­ful, life­long friend­ships and mem­o­ries.​ We remain in charge of our des­tiny. We will con­tin­ue to inde­pen­dent­ly pub­lish and cre­ative­ly devel­op our games. We will con­tin­ue to dri­ve one, uni­fied Bungie com­mu­ni­ty. Our games will con­tin­ue to be where our com­mu­ni­ty is, wher­ev­er they choose to play.​ With SIE’s sup­port, the most imme­di­ate change you will see is an accel­er­a­tion in hir­ing tal­ent across the entire stu­dio to sup­port our ambi­tious vision. If this speaks to you, and you want to help us put a dent in the uni­verse, we are hir­ing across all dis­ci­plines for Des­tiny 2 and for all new worlds beyond. 

THREE DECADES AND COUNTING

What makes our worlds come to life is our com­mu­ni­ty and our peo­ple in the stu­dio. Our peo­ple are the soul of Bungie. Empow­ered by our peo­ple, we have pushed the bound­aries of what we thought was pos­si­ble and trans­formed who we are as a com­pa­ny. ​Over the past 30 years, the invit­ing worlds we’ve built have turned into thriv­ing com­mu­ni­ties, and that com­mu­ni­ty is the true mag­ic. These com­mu­ni­ties have tak­en Bungie beyond games. They have forged life-long bonds, and hum­bled us with the real, mean­ing­ful good they dri­ve with­in us and the world.​More than any­thing, SIE under­stands that our peo­ple and our com­mu­ni­ty are both the pri­or­i­ty, and the heart of our suc­cess, and are will­ing to stand along­side us as we con­tin­ue to use our plat­form to dri­ve action towards a more wel­com­ing and equi­table world. Our goal is to build a place where the world’s most cre­ative and tal­ent­ed peo­ple can come and do their best work, no mat­ter who they are, where they are from, or how they iden­ti­fy.​ That’s the real dent in the uni­verse we want to make — the one we want to last beyond us.​ Be a part of this future with us. See you Starside.”

Bungie x PlayStation FAQ

Q. As a Des­tiny 2 play­er, does Bungie becom­ing part of PlaySta­tion have any imme­di­ate impact on how I play and expe­ri­ence Des­tiny 2? 

No. Our com­mit­ment to Des­tiny 2 as a mul­ti-plat­form game with full Cross Play remains unchanged. 

We want you to play The Witch Queen on Feb­ru­ary 22, 2022, on the plat­form of YOUR choice. 

Q. Will the Des­tiny 2 expe­ri­ence on non-PlaySta­tion plat­forms be impact­ed by Bungie becom­ing part of PlayStation? 

No. We want to main­tain the same great expe­ri­ence you already have on your plat­form of choice. 

Q. Will any announced sea­sons, events, packs, or expan­sions be changed or impact­ed by Bungie becom­ing part of PlayStation? 

No. Bungie retains full cre­ative inde­pen­dence for our games and our com­mu­ni­ty. Our plans for the Light and Dark Saga are unchanged, all the way through The Final Shape in 2024. 

Q. Will Des­tiny 2: The Witch Queen include any plat­form exclusives? 

No. The Witch Queen will not con­tain any plat­form exclu­sives. Every play­er should have an amaz­ing Des­tiny expe­ri­ence, no mat­ter where you choose to play 

Q. Will cross plat­form fea­tures, like Cross Save, Cross Play, the Des­tiny 2 Com­pan­ion App, or third-par­ty apps like Des­tiny Item Man­ag­er (DIM) be changed or removed? 

No. Bungie’s com­mit­ment to cross-plat­form play and social fea­tures remains unchanged. We believe games are best shared with friends, wher­ev­er they choose to play, and will con­tin­ue to invest in new fea­tures and platforms. 

Q. Bungie has future games in devel­op­ment, will they now become PlaySta­tion exclusives? 

No. We want the worlds we are cre­at­ing to extend to any­where peo­ple play games. We will con­tin­ue to be self-pub­lished, cre­ative­ly inde­pen­dent, and we will con­tin­ue to dri­ve one, uni­fied Bungie community. 

Q. I play Des­tiny on Steam, Xbox, or Sta­dia – will my plat­form still be supported? 

Yes.