Bungie Joins PlayStation Studios
PlayStation has acquired Bungie for $3.6 billion as the landscape of the video game industry continues to rapidly shift in a flurry of buyouts.
Sony announced today that it will acquire Bungie Inc., the developer of blockbuster titles such as Destiny, Halo and Marathon. Bungie helped to usher in the era of Xbox in 2001 releasing the critically acclaimed, Halo: Combat Evolved. It's since gone on to develop multiple games in the series and, more recently, created the MMO Destiny.
Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment welcomed Bungie to the PlayStation family while also committing to keep the company, "an independent and multi-platform studio and publisher." Bungie will also maintain creative control over the Destiny universe and new IP it creates.
It looks as if the main goal of this acquisition is to build knowledge around online gaming within PlayStation's current stable of first person studios with Bungie's extensive expertise.
As Ryan explains, "Bungie’s world-class expertise in multi-platform development and live game services will help us deliver on our vision of expanding PlayStation to hundreds of millions of gamers. Bungie is a great innovator and has developed incredible proprietary tools that will help PlayStation Studios achieve new heights under Hermen Hulst’s leadership."
The studio acquisition trend continues
The emerging theme in the video game industry is developers being bought up by larger corporate interests looking to strengthen their market position. The Bungie buyout comes hot on the heels of Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard for a record breaking $68.7 billion. When that deal is finalized, it will be one of the largest entertainment-based acquisitions ever, and the largest gaming acquisition to date.
As developers begin come under larger corporate umbrellas, it will be interesting to see how this consolidation affects console sales and the overall interactive entertainment industry.
What are your thoughts? How do you think this will affect Bungie, Destiny, and PlayStation Studios? Sound off in the comments below.