Hot on the heels of the announcement that Microsoft would be buying Activision Blizzard came the announcement that Sony had decided to purchaseBungie. The American video game development house is best known for its involvement in the creation of the iconic Halo franchise, but it has since expanded its catalog and switched focus to live service games. According to one report,Bungiewas looking into making its own streaming platform before the Sony buyout.
Apparently,Sony’s acquisition of Bungie is great for possible multimedia franchises, both because of the multi-layered worlds Bungie has created and because of Sony’s history of creating IPs across a variety of media. However, it seems that Bungie was already looking into developing its own multimedia IPs.
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Reportedly, Google pitched its streaming tech to Bungie as part of an attempt to stabilize itsfailing Stadia streaming service. It seems that Bungie was exploring the possibility of creating its own streaming service when Google reached out to it. According to the white-label deal, Google technology would support the platform while Bungie would own content and control the front-end of the service. Talks between the two companies appear to have made considerable progress before Sony announced its plans to acquire Bungie for $3.6 million.
It remains unclear how Sony’s decision to buy Bungie will impact Google’s plans to collaborate on a new streaming service. However, it is confirmed that Sony spent over $1 billion tokeep Bungie employees on boardafter the acquisition. Bungie has also confirmed that it will continue to support Stadia, especially sinceDestiny 2is one of the main attractions of the service. Sony has its own existing deal with Microsoft for Cloud gaming infrastructure, though. It remains to be seen how Sony and Bungie will work out their differing obligations in this area.
Bungie and Sony’s partnershipseems to be based on existing game IPs as much as it is rooted in building out live-service game infrastructure. Reportedly, Sony is planning to launch 10 live-service games in the next four years and Bungie – with its experience as a developer of live-service titles – will be serving as a key partner in the initiative. Since Bungie got in on the live service gaming trend back in 2014 with the originalDestiny, this may make a degree of sense. Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki allegedly wishes to capitalize onBungie’s experience and incorporate it into Sony’s own IPs.
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