Sony to Purchase ‘Destiny’ Developer Bungie in $3.6 Billion Deal

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Microsoft isn't the only company with billions to throw around to expand its gaming portfolio.

Bungie Sony
(Image credit: Bungie)

It looks as though Microsoft isn't alone in building out its war chest with game development studios. Microsoft shook the gaming world earlier this month with its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion, and now Sony is making moves of its own, buying Destiny developer Bungie. Compared to the Activision Blizzard purchase, Sony's $3.6 billion outlay for Bungie somewhat seems quaint.

"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," wrote Bungie CEO Pete Parsons. "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."

While it would be easy to speculate that Sony's move to acquire Bungie was a knee-jerk reaction to Microsoft's monster purchase, the truth is that this deal has likely been in the works for quite some time. It just so happens that the timing makes Sony seem like it is playing defense against Microsoft's growing dominance in the game developer realm. 

With that said, Sony intends to maintain Bungie as an "independent, multi-platform studio and publisher." This promise is also laid out in a FAQ that Bungie posted, which explains that "Destiny 2 will stay on all current platforms and expand to new platforms." Destiny 2 is currently playable across Xbox and PlayStation platforms, as well as PC and Google Stadia. 

Bungie also explains that non-PlayStation platforms will not be affected by the announcement, nor will already-announced seasons, events, packs or expansions. In addition, there are no planned changes to the Destiny 2 rollout schedule for content released between now and The Final Shape, which will arrive in 2024. And if you were wondering about cross-play support being altered in any way (for the worse), those concerns are unfounded. "We believe games are best shared with friends, wherever they choose to play, and will continue to invest in new features and platforms," added Bungie.

So, at least where it relates to Destiny 2, gamers don't appear to have anything to worry about. However, the big question is what happens in the post-Destiny 2 phase for Bungie? Sony likely didn't acquire Bungie to play nice with Microsoft and PC platforms forever. Sony's "multi-platform" mantra for Bungie likely will have an expiration date, and we could see its future IP tied exclusively to the PlayStation platform for a competitive advantage.

"Bungie's technical expertise, coupled with their track record of building highly engaged communities, make them a natural fit for collaboration with PlayStation Studios," said PlayStation Studios chief Hermen Hulst. "We are excited to make plans to share skills and expertise, and to unlock the potential in having the brilliant minds at Bungie under the PlayStation roof."

Besides the hugely popular Destiny series, Bungie also created the blockbuster Halo franchise. As you may already know, Bungie was initially known as a developer of Mac games but made the transition to Microsoft's first-generation Xbox console with Halo: Combat Evolved. The studio followed up with Halo 2 and Halo 3 before breaking away from Microsoft to operate as an independent company in 2007 (although Bungie did develop Halo: Reach, which landed in 2010 for Xbox 360).

Brandon Hill
Brandon Hill

Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • VforV
    Contrary to what Xbots and Sony haters will say (some are already saying), this deal is not a reaction to MS acquiring Acti-Blizz.

    The deal was in the works for the past 6 months. Of course, these kind of deals don't happen over night, like MS announces their move and somehow Sony in a week acquires Bungie, that's so silly...

    Jim Ryan: “Expect More” In Regards To PlayStation Acquisitions
    Reply
  • Giroro
    $3.6 Billion ... for Destiny and the studio that made it.

    That would be like if Disney had paid $4 Billion dollars to LucasFilm for Red Tails and ILM, without getting Star Wars.

    I see that Sony's longstanding company tradition of "having absolutely no idea how to turn a profit" is starting to creep into their gaming division.
    Reply
  • TheOtherOne
    VforV said:
    Contrary to what Xbots and Sony haters will say (some are already saying), this deal is not a reaction to MS acquiring Acti-Blizz.

    The deal was in the works for the past 6 months. Of course, these kind of deals don't happen over night, like MS announces their move and somehow Sony in a week acquires Bungie, that's so silly...

    Jim Ryan: “Expect More” In Regards To PlayStation Acquisitions
    While you are right these deals don't happen overnight, it is also (most likely) entirely possible Sony knew about Microsoft's deal and also started working on their own months ago 🤨
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    TheOtherOne said:
    While you are right these deals don't happen overnight, it is also (most likely) entirely possible Sony knew about Microsoft's deal and also started working on their own months ago 🤨
    but this is pointless even if true.

    Bungie isnt console exclusive per its terms...thus Sony didn't really do anything to make buyign their console better.

    MS on other hand obtained a huge number of IPs via their deal (giving them capacity to open all those to gamepass which is somethign sony has no possible answer to.


    and this is also nowhere near as profitable as MS's.


    Destiny makes Millions (and is basically all they have going atm for bungie)

    CoD alone makes Billions....and thats just 1 of the IP's they obtained.

    not even same league.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    Consolidation rarely works out for the better. I wasn't fond of the idea of EA, Activision, Ubisoft, and Infogrames/Atari buying up all the game studios just as I'm uncomfortable with the idea of Sony and Microsoft acquiring publishers and their studios. Sony's acquisition is probably bad in the long run.

    The only acquisition that I'm ok with is Microsoft's ABK acquisition. Why? Because ABK management is so hilariously bad that they turned nearly every company asset into a support tool for Call of Duty. All eggs in the same basket. Microsoft has the ability to dig into ABK's rich and neglected IP portfolio. Bungie and Bethesda didn't seem to have as big of management failures compared to ABK, and appeared to be leveraging much more of their IP.
    Reply
  • VforV
    I love how a 70B acquisition makes some people easy and gives them hope that it will be a good thing, but a 3B+ one seems bad to those same people.... Really?

    If anything Sony can get that money back from Bungie faster and easier than MS can ever recoup those 70B. Not that I care if MS loses them all, they have enough to lose and not care.

    Sony bought Bungie for at least 4 things:
    Their expertise with multiplayer and GaaS games, which Sony will have many new ones coming and that's gold right there for them.
    Any game IP Bungie already has, plus new IPs that can be turned into movies by Sony.
    Future game IPs in development from Bungie that probably are worth investing for Sony, that are promising, from a gaming POV.
    And only lastly, Destiny 2 and it's future.
    Reply