just announced Bunge, the video game industry giant responsible for such influential franchises as Halo and Destiny is Acquired by Sony for $3.6 billion. While Bungie will be joining Sony, the company has assured via its website that Bungie “will continue to be an independent multi-platform studio and publisher.”
In a blog post uploaded to Bungie’s website alongside this announcement, it read: “Bungie begins our journey to become a global multimedia entertainment company.” In the same post, the guarantee of creative freedom was given its own part, along with the accompanying News of a surge in new jobs at the studio following the acquisition of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
The deal comes just 13 days after Microsoft announced the company was acquiring Activision Blizzard. While not as big an acquisition as Microsoft’s Gargantuan deal, the news makes sense, thanks in large part to Bungie’s history as the original creator of one of Microsoft’s most popular franchises, Halo.
Bungie is a great choice for Sony, and not just because Destiny 2 is about to get a major update for the Witch Queen expansion this February. The developer is also reportedly working on another IP in secret that has yet to be shown to the public.
In the aforementioned Sony announcement, Bungie Pete Parsons CEO wrote: “At Sony, we have found a partner who supports us unconditionally, who wants to accelerate our vision of creating cross-generational entertainment, while retaining the creative independence that beats in Bungie’s heart. Sex. Like us, Sony believes that the gaming world is only the beginning of what our IP can be. Together we dream of creating and nurturing iconic franchises that bring friends around the world, families across generations and across platforms and entertainment media Fans un ite.”
In the same post, Hermen Helst, head of PlayStation Studios, wrote: “I have spent a lot of time on Bungie’s senior team and it is clear that their experience and skills are highly complementary to our own. We will always welcome and Supporting Bungie as they continue to grow and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this incredible team.”
