Sony (NYSE: SONY) announced plans this week to buy gaming studio Bungie, purveyor of the hit Destiny gaming franchise, in a $3.6 billion tie-up that comes mere weeks after Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) industry-shaking $69 billion Activision-Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) buyout.
Bungie will continue to operate independently and release titles across multiple platforms, wrote the studio's CEO, Pete Parsons in a blog post.
Parsons' assurance likely came as welcome news for current players of the multi-platform hit Destiny 2, the principal title in Bungie's catalog.
According to MMO populations, Destiny 2 is currently the second-largest massively multiplayer online game, with roughly 39 million players and 739,000 daily players.
"We remain in charge of our Destiny," wrote Parsons in a not-so-subtle nod to the franchise. "Our games will continue to be where our community is, wherever they choose to play," he added, noting that the most immediate change for the studio would be greater access to talent.
Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan echoed these claims. "We understand how vital Bungie's community is to the studio and look forward to supporting them as they remain independent and continue to grow," Ryan wrote in an U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
In a note to players, Destiny 2 game director Joe Blackburn and general Manger Justin Truman said that their plans for future releases remain unchanged through 2024, when "The Final Shape" DLC is due out.
Neither Sony nor Bungie gave any indication as to when the ink on Monday's deal would dry, as it remains subject to regulatory approval.
Beyond developing the hit Destiny franchise, Bungie also launched the console-defining Halo series in partnership with Microsoft in 2001. The studio remained in league with the Redwood-based tech giant until 2007 when it split off.
Bungie's former relationship with Microsoft is not lost on gaming industry watchers, who have seen consolidations heat up at a record pace. A week before Microsoft's Activision deal, Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) bought mobile gaming powerhouse Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) for $12.7 billion.
In Bungie, Sony inherits a studio with millions of Destiny players, spending millions making in-game purchases. At the same time, the deal also fits thematically with Sony's other buyouts in the space. In 2001 the Japanese conglomerate bought Naughty Dog, the studio behind the acclaimed and massively successful Uncharted and The Last of Us gaming franchises. Sony is likely counting on Bungie to release a similar level of content well into the future.
Still, Sony's insistence on keeping Bungie's future releases multi-platform has left some scratching their heads, as Microsoft has offered no similar assurances regarding Activision's content.
Nevertheless, in December, Bloomberg reported that Sony was looking to bolster its subscription offering sometime this spring. No doubt having access to Bungie's catalog could be a major value proposition for any would-be subscriber to the revamped service.
Bungie has also sent clear signals of its intent to expand beyond the gaming space. In his blog post, Parsons emphasized the studio's desire to "establish iconic franchises...across multiple platforms and entertainment mediums."
Last year, IGN reported that Bungie had advertised a position to "drive projects that extend the Destiny franchise into new categories including TV, films, books, comics, and audio formats."
Sony makes an ideal partner for Bungie's multimedia ambitions. Sony is, after all, the studio largest movie studio by revenue in the U.S. At the same time, two of Sony's hit gaming franchises, the aforementioned The Last of Us and Uncharted, are already making their way to screens both big and small, signaling the company's appetite to work on similar projects.
Uncharted, the movie, is due out Feb. 17, while The Last of Us is expected sometime this year through HBO (NYSE: T).