The studio will be an “independent subsidiary” of Sony and will retain its own creative freedom.

Once again, we have news of a major industry acquisition, this time from Sony. Although it looked like January would be dominated by the acquisition of Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard, the Japanese company refused to end the month without announcing its latest business move: the purchase of Bungie for $3.6 billion.

Bungie will continue to focus on multiplatform spending

According to Gamesindustry, the creators of games like Halo and Destiny will become “independent subsidiaries” of Sony, and the studio will retain its own creative freedom. In that spirit, the deal reflects that Bungie will remain a multiplatform developer and will have the ability “to self-publish and reach players wherever they choose to play.”

What will happen to Bungie’s games – will they be exclusive? The studio’s official website says. “We want the worlds we create to go wherever people play,” the Destiny developers report. “We will continue to publish [our games] independently, creatively, and continue to serve the unified Bungie community.”

“We understand how vital Bungie’s community is to the studio” – PlayStation

“We’ve had a strong partnership with Bungie since the inception of the Destiny franchise, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to officially welcome the studio to the PlayStation family,” said Jim Ryan, head of the Japanese company. “This is an important step in our strategy to expand the reach of PlayStation to a much wider audience. 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. Like Bungie, our community is core to PlayStation’s DNA, and our shared passion for the gamer and building the best place to play will now evolve even further.”

“Both Bungie and Sony believe that game worlds are only the beginning of what our IP will become,” said Pete Parsons, CEO of Bungie. “Our original universes have immense potential and, with SIE’s support, we will propel Bungie into becoming a global multimedia entertainment company dedicated to delivering on our creative vision.”

No further details surrounding the Sony-Bungie deal were disclosed, although several points of great interest to the community were revealed in the agreement. Unsurprisingly, within minutes of the news breaking, reactions were all over the place, including congratulations from Phil Spencer himself. Bungie is currently focusing on developing Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, which is due for release on 22 February.

Source: Gamesindustry