Sony buying Bungie

Hanno Labuschagne

Hanno Labuschagne

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Sony buying Bungie

Sony Group Corp. is purchasing Bungie Inc., the U.S. video game developer behind the popular Destiny and Halo franchises, for $3.6 billion to bolster its stable of game-making studios.

The deal announced on Monday by Sony Interactive Entertainment is the third significant video-game acquisition this month, following Microsoft Corp.’s purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc. for $69 billion two weeks ago and Take Two Interactive Corp. snagging mobile game leader Zynga Inc. on Jan. 10.

[Bloomberg]
 
Interesting move, and also interesting price point for an entity that theoretically only has one game in its stable.
 
Fulcrum29 said:
That game is the world's second largest MMO.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know... I'm not necessarily saying Sony stupidly overpaid for Bungie at all...

They must have some other IP under their belt because I'm pretty sure Sony are looking to diversify more than just bringing on a single big title effectively.
 
Make Halo a Playstation exclusive.

The collective seething from Halo fans would be able to solve the world's energy problems for 2.5 years.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yeah I know... I'm not necessarily saying Sony stupidly overpaid for Bungie at all...

They must have some other IP under their belt because I'm pretty sure Sony are looking to diversify more than just bringing on a single big title effectively.
Click to expand...

Almost all IPs were sold in a deal brokered between MS, Bungie and Take-Two, and distributed amongst studios. MS took almost all IPs, Take-Two took Myth and Oni. Bungie, I guess, still owns the old Marathon (which was released to the public) and Minotaur IPs. Basically, Bungie only has Destiny.

What some people get wrong is that Bungie was owned by Activision, which was never the case, Activision was their publisher, and that agreement was exited. Bungie back in the day was acquired by MS, and when they split with MS, the IP deal was made, some Bungie employees went to the newly established 343 Industries, which is owned by MS, and the rest who stayed with Bungie started their own company, or registered Bungie, and here we are.

Destiny may be on a bumpy road, but their active player base is very strong irrespective to what people may be trolling, and in ratio, compared to WoW it is healthier.

Going by media reports, it seems this deal was long in the making, but kept well under wrap.
 
Fulcrum29 said:
Almost all IPs were sold in a deal brokered between MS, Bungie and Take-Two, and distributed amongst studios. MS took almost all IPs, Take-Two took Myth and Oni. Bungie, I guess, still owns the old Marathon (which was released to the public) and Minotaur IPs. Basically, Bungie only has Destiny.

What some people get wrong is that Bungie was owned by Activision, which was never the case, Activision was their publisher, and that agreement was exited. Bungie back in the day was acquired by MS, and when they split with MS, the IP deal was made, some Bungie employees went to the newly established 343 Industries, which is owned by MS, and the rest who stayed with Bungie started their own company, or registered Bungie, and here we are.

Destiny may be on a bumpy road, but their active player base is very strong irrespective to what people may be trolling, and in ratio, compared to WoW it is healthier.

Going by media reports, it seems this deal was long in the making, but kept well under wrap.
Click to expand...

But you can't deny it sounds like a pissing contest.
 
Moosedrool said:
Microsoft owns Crash Bandicoot and Sony now owns the company that created Halo.

This sounds more like a comedy sketch.
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MV5BNTAzMDI5MzgtMGNkMC00MzllLWJhNjctNjA1NmViNGUxMzYxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yeah I know... I'm not necessarily saying Sony stupidly overpaid for Bungie at all...

They must have some other IP under their belt because I'm pretty sure Sony are looking to diversify more than just bringing on a single big title effectively.
Click to expand...
This acquisition is not about exclusivity but Sony really wants their expertise on multiplayer and live gaming service.
 
Moosedrool said:
Microsoft owns Crash Bandicoot and Sony now owns the company that created Halo.

This sounds more like a comedy sketch.
Click to expand...

Strictly speaking, Bungie was already working on a new title, and when acquired by MS that title was named and launched as Halo. Yes, it was MS's Xbox launch title. Sentimentally, it is huge, but the IP remained in-house with 343 Industries.
 
Fulcrum29 said:
Almost all IPs were sold in a deal brokered between MS, Bungie and Take-Two, and distributed amongst studios. MS took almost all IPs, Take-Two took Myth and Oni. Bungie, I guess, still owns the old Marathon (which was released to the public) and Minotaur IPs. Basically, Bungie only has Destiny.

What some people get wrong is that Bungie was owned by Activision, which was never the case, Activision was their publisher, and that agreement was exited. Bungie back in the day was acquired by MS, and when they split with MS, the IP deal was made, some Bungie employees went to the newly established 343 Industries, which is owned by MS, and the rest who stayed with Bungie started their own company, or registered Bungie, and here we are.

Destiny may be on a bumpy road, but their active player base is very strong irrespective to what people may be trolling, and in ratio, compared to WoW it is healthier.

Going by media reports, it seems this deal was long in the making, but kept well under wrap.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Bungie as a company largely exited the MS fold with zero existing IP but a huge talent pool.

RazedInBlack said:
This acquisition is not about exclusivity but Sony really wants their expertise on multiplayer and live gaming service.
Click to expand...
Its not about exclusivity for sure, and I get that Bungie brings some extensive multiplayer and living gaming service chops to the table, but the question has to be asked as to whether those chops are worth $3bn effectively.

I would hazard a guess that a fair chunk of Bungies backend infrastructure is Azure based, so MS are smiling all the way to the bank atm :P Sony gets to expand that multiplayer footprint into other games and MS gets paid for it :D
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yeah, Bungie as a company largely exited the MS fold with zero existing IP but a huge talent pool.


Its not about exclusivity for sure, and I get that Bungie brings some extensive multiplayer and living gaming service chops to the table, but the question has to be asked as to whether those chops are worth $3bn effectively.

I would hazard a guess that a fair chunk of Bungies backend infrastructure is Azure based, so MS are smiling all the way to the bank atm :p Sony gets to expand that multiplayer footprint into other games and MS gets paid for it :D
Click to expand...

No need to guess, thats a given, if you recall:

Microsoft and Sony announced a “strategic partnership” in May 2019, which will result in the PlayStation maker using Microsoft Azure data centres for cloud gaming and content streaming services. As part of the deal, Sony and Microsoft will also explore collaboration in the areas of semiconductors and AI.
Click to expand...

Thats a collaboration where both parties win.
 
Ahhh I had missed that ... ta..

So MS get bank regardless, so in some ways it pays for them to have multi-platform AAA games from there new acquisitions anyway...
 
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