In what is without a doubt a huge surprise to fans, Sony is reportedly buying Bungie, the studio behind wildly popular Destiny 2 and, the original creators of the Halo franchise. The news was revealed this morning by Bungie on Twitter not long before Bungie’s official blog post.
The announcement comes at an interesting time indeed. Just weeks after Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buy. And weeks ahead of Destiny 2’s next big release. The Witch Queen expansion dropping on February 22.
The acquisition in general might speak more to how much money Bungie is making. Or, lack thereof. In the studio’s official announcement, Bungie says the most immediate change people will see as part of them joining SIE is an acceleration in hiring talent.
“With SIE’s support, the most immediate change you will see is an acceleration in hiring talent across the entire studio to support our ambitious vision.” Which sounds a lot like Bungie wasn’t making enough money to fuel its vision. But with Sony behind it, it has a big influx of cash.
Sony is buying Bungie, but Bungie will continue to publish independently
Longtime Destiny fans know, it wasn’t that long ago when Bungie was under the umbrella of another big publisher. Activision Blizzard. And after years of pumping out content per Activision’s schedule, Bungie finally broke away and began publishing everything on its own.
Some fans might feel like this Sony deal is a step backwards. Bungie just broke free from Activision a few years ago after all. And now, it’s headed back into the hands of another big company. Bungie has reassured fans though, that it will continue to publish its content independently.
The studio also says that it will creatively develop its games. So while Bungie may now be joining the SIE family, it sounds like it will still have full creative control of what comes up in the future. For Destiny fans, there’s one sentence that’s more important than any other in Bungie’s official announcement.
That it will “continue to drive one, unified Bungie community,” and that the studio’s games will always be where the community is where the community chooses to play. Which means we shouldn’t expect Destiny 2 to go PlayStation exclusive.
2022-02-01 15:07:47