Sony Acquires Bungie
Michael McWhertor (via John Gruber):
Sony is buying Bungie, the developer of Destiny 2 and the studio that originally created Halo, in a deal worth $3.6 billion, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced Monday.
Bungie will remain a multiplatform studio — Destiny 2 is available on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms — with the option to self-publish its games. The studio “will remain independent and multi-platform, will enjoy creative freedom, and their track record in developing massively successful franchises in the sci-fi shooter genre will be highly complementary to SIE’s own IP portfolio,” SIE president Jim Ryan explained in a statement.
[Another] seismic gaming deal that comes just two weeks after Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard.
Bungie put Xbox on the map. Now it’s part of PlayStation Studios.
Won’t be long before all games are owned by companies that Apple has burned bridges with, rejected from the App Store, or is embroiled in lawsuits with 😛 […] At some point, Apple’s going to have to buy a big games studio just to not be locked out of the future completely.
A look at the first ten years of Bungie Software, charting their path from tiny Mac indie to Microsoft golden goose, and the sacrifices they made to achieve their immense success.
Previously:
- CMA Report on Apple Cloud Gaming Restrictions
- Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard
- Jobs Turned Down Bungie
Update (2022-02-04): See also: Ben Thompson, Hacker News.
Update (2022-02-16): See also: Accidental Tech Podcast.
4 Comments RSS · Twitter
Do Apple really need a gamestudio?
"The studio “will remain independent and multi-platform, will enjoy creative freedom...”"
Is this not what we heard when Activision Blizzard bought them or whatever the hell that was? Color me skeptical that either Sony doesn't take them completely in-house (Insomniac) or this marriage only lasts a couple of years before Bungie bolts again.
As for Apple, somebody was saying that they're not going to have anything left to put in Apple Arcade without buying a studio. Except what games out of any of the ones currently available were developed by Bungie, or AB, or Bethesda (last massive acquisition before this current round, I think), or really any studio like that at all? None of them. Obviously Epic doesn't have any games in there, to my knowledge EA does not, and naturally not Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo. The only big studio game I can think of is NBA 2K. (They could buy Take Two, speaking of.)
If Apple's whatever glasses find a market, devs will come. And if they really, really don't, then Apple starts worrying. Until then, given Apple's lukewarm feelings for gaming at best, it doesn't serve them to buy a game studio.
I see Steve Doublename goes on to suggest Apple should buy Nintendo.
I personally find that highly unlikely. I don't see Nintendo selling itself to anyone for any money. But I've been wrong before.
"Apple’s going to have to buy a big games studio"
EA and Epic are still available.
Sony buying Bungie smells like desperation. They don't have a compelling FPS franchise, despite trying multiple times. They can't count on CoD anymore. They can't buy EA. They can't buy Epic. Overpaying for Bungie seems like the only option left to them.