After Microsoft’s $69b takeover of Activision Blizzard, it wasn’t a surprise when Sony Interactive Entertainment announced earlier this week that it was acquiring a major game developer. Though the $3.6b acquisition of Bungie may look like a drop in the ocean when compared to what Microsoft has paid, it’s an important moment for the video game industry.
Bungie has come with hugely popular multiplayer shooter games Destiny and Halo, which Sony says, will operate independently and have free rein to publish games for other consoles and platforms. But the move will help Sony reach new game players.
The Bellevue, Washington, based developer has an interesting history. In 2000, Microsoft bought Bungie and its game Halo: Combat Evolved became a launch title for the Xbox. But the developer split from Microsoft in 2007 and it stopped making Halo three years later. Since 2011, Halo has been developed by 343 Industries, a company owned by Microsoft.
Sony’s move will bring home the talent behind Destiny 2 and the developer’s expertise can be used to create similarly expansive and long-running live service titles. Like The Verge, pointed out: Sony is renowned for its expensive single-player games like God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, but it doesn’t have its own take on Fortnite or Destiny that’s updated regularly over the course of many years to keep players coming back.
The deal is also interesting. Bungie’s future games won’t be PlayStation exclusive. “We want the worlds we are creating to extend to anywhere people play games,” reads a vision blog post from Bungie’s Joe Blackburn and Justin Truman.
Destiny 2 is a game on which several hours are spent, like on Fortnite and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. And there are not many games like Destiny 2. Revenue from live service games is big, if we keep Fortnite in mind. So, it’s an excellent purchase for Sony. Beyond this one game, Bungie appears to have a new franchise on the way. Codenamed Matter, initial job postings for the game pointed to “Are you inspired to create a hopeful new game world that brings players together from all over the planet?” The developer hasn’t made any comments except that it expects “to bring at least one new IP to market before 2025”.
Meanwhile, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is coming our way on February 22. Delve into Savathun’s Throne World to uncover the mystery of how she and her Lucent Hive stole the Light.
Mega-deal month
January has turned out to be a record month for mergers and acquisitions in the video games industry. There were two other major deals, with Grand Theft Auto creator Take-Two Interactive announced its buyout of Zynga for $12.7b and Microsoft’s plan to purchase industry giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn. The three deals together are valued around $85b.
At the moment, Microsoft and Sony are in a battle to win over players. Sony’s PlayStation 5 console appears to have a slight edge over Microsoft’s Xbox models but Microsoft is making big strides in the industry. The Japanese company keeps improving its network of in-house games studios and delivering exclusive hits, one after the other, including the Spider-man franchise. Sony is also a pioneer when it comes to virtual reality and had teased some details about its next generation headset last month.
In 2021, Sony had acquired PC port developer Nixxes Software, Returnal developer Housemarque, The Playroom maker Firesprite Studios, Bluepoint Games, and God of War support studio Valkyrie Entertainment.
Microsoft’s buying spree includes ZeniMax Media / Bethesda Softworks in 2021, Psychonauts 2 developer Double Fine Productions in 2019, and announcing a five-studio addition to its roster in 2018. And, of course, its purchase of Minecraft maker Mojang in 2014.
