Sony Buying Bungie for 3.6 Billion, Destiny to Remain Multi-Platform

Written by Brandon Hofer on January 31, 2022

News: A new studio acquisition has been revealed but this time it is Sony doing the shopping.

Sony is purchasing Bungie. They announced this acquisition earlier today and the Bungie Twitter account also confirmed it. Sony will be getting Bungie for 3.6 billion. The team behind Destiny will now be in Sony’s stable, however, they will reportedly remain independent. What this means is that if you are a Destiny fan and you prefer to play on Xbox, you can relax. Bungie will be run as an “independent subsidiary” of SIE. Sony has also stated that Bungie will remain a multiplatform studio and Bungie will retain the ability to “self-publish and reach players wherever they choose to play.”

“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.”

As long-time gamers will recall Bungie used to be owned by Microsoft many years ago. In fact, Bungie is the original studio that launched one of Microsoft’s biggest franchises, Halo. There are some today that think Halo 3 was the high point of the franchise and that Bungie was in peak form during that time period. Now they are going to become part of Sony and over the past few years have really built up the Destiny universe.

"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 SIE president and CEO Jim Ryan.

"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.”

Bungie is the latest studio to be “off the board”. Earlier this month it was revealed that Microsoft is purchasing Activision for almost 70 billion. They also recently purchased Bethesda for 7.5 billion. Now with Bungie being acquired, one has to wonder. Who is next?