Bungie, the developer of Destiny 2, is now officially a part of Sony. The PlayStation maker had announced its intent to acquire the gaming studio in January, and now, that acquisition is complete.
At the initial announcement, Sony said the deal was worth $3.6 billion, but in an SEC filing on Friday, it said it was worth “approximately” $3.7 billion.
Though it’s now under the Sony umbrella, Bungie will “continue to publish and creatively develop our games independently,” Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said in a blog post from the original announcement of the acquisition. And future games in development won’t be PlayStation exclusives, Bungie’s Joe Blackburn and Justin Truman said.
But Sony does plan to lean on Bungie for its “world-class expertise in multi-platform development and live game services.” It “will help us deliver on our vision of expanding PlayStation to hundreds of millions of gamers,” Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan said in January. In addition, Sony views live service games as a critical part of PlayStation’s future, as it plans to launch more than ten unique live service games by March 2026.
With Bungie now officially part of Sony and Take-Two completing its acquisition of Zynga in May, we have to wait for Microsoft to wrap up its massive $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. It might be a little while until that’s completed; Microsoft expects the deal to close sometime in its fiscal year 2023, which began this month and runs through June 2023.
Bungie, Inc. is an American video contest company founded in Bellevue, Washington. The firm was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later obtained in programmer Jason Jones after posting Jones’ game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. Initially launched in Chicago, Illinois, the company concentrated on Macintosh games during its early years and created two successful video game franchises, Marathon and Myth.
An offshoot studio, Bungie West, delivered Oni, published in 2001 and owned by Take-Two Interactive, which had a 19.9% ownership stake.
Microsoft gained Bungie in 2000, and its project Halo: Combat Evolved was repurposed as a launch title for Microsoft’s Xbox console. As a result, Halo became the Xbox’s “killer app,” selling millions of copies and generating the Halo franchise.
On October 5, 2007, Bungie revealed that it had split from Microsoft and become a privately held independent company, Bungie LLC, while Microsoft maintained ownership of the Halo franchise intellectual property.
It got a ten-year publishing contract with Activision in April 2010. Their first assignment was the 2014 first-person shooter, Destiny, which was observed by Destiny 2 in 2017. In January 2019, Bungie revealed it was ending this partnership and would take over publishing for Destiny.
Sony Interactive Entertainment finalized its acquisition of Bungie in July 2022, with Bungie remaining as an independent and multi-platform studio and publisher.
Bungie’s side projects include Bungie.net, the company’s website, which provides company information, forums, and statistics-tracking and integration with many of its games.
In addition, Bungie.net serves as the platform from which Bungie pledges company-related merchandise out of the Bungie Store and handles other projects, including a charitable organization, Bungie Aerospace, the Bungie Foundation, a podcast, and online periodicals about game topics. The company is understood for its relaxed and dedicated workplace culture.
Bungie.net serves as the primary portal for interaction between company staff and the community surrounding Bungie’s games. When Microsoft bought Bungie, the site was seen as in competition with Microsoft’s own Xbox.com site, but community management ultimately won out as the more significant concern. As a result, the site has been redesigned several times.
The site recorded statistics for every game played during Bungie’s involvement with the Halo franchise. This information incorporated statistics on each player in the game, and a map of the game level showing where kills occurred, called “heatmaps.” On January 31, 2012, Bungie revealed that, as of March 31, 2012, Bungie.net would not be extended update Halo game statistics and Halo performer service records, host new user-generated Halo content, or employ Halo’s “Bungie Pro” service.
Bungie’s termination of these services on March 31 completed the transition process of all data for Halo games being managed by 343 Industries. Bungie.net records players’ statistics for their game franchise Destiny. In addition to collecting data and managing Destiny players’ accounts, the website serves as a state of communication between Bungie and the community.
While Bungie had extended provided places for fans to congregate and talk about games, as well as casting new information and screenshots over Bungie.net, it historically had made less struggle and been less prosperous at providing access to the inside workings of Bungie and its staff.
As part of a move to become more acquainted with fans, Bungie recruited recognized and respected voices from the fan community, including writers Luke Smith, Eric Osborne, and others.
Bungie also owns an iOS and Google Play application that equips news, inventory management, and group encountering for their game Destiny on the go.