The news is in: Sony is buying Bungie, the formerly Microsoft-owned studio known for their work on Halo and now their work on Destiny. In the context of Microsoft buying ZeniMax and Activision-Blizzard, many are wondering if Sony's purchase of Bungie will work the same way. In this article, we'll tell you everything you need to know about the acquisition as well as what you can expect from Bungie going forward.
Is Destiny a PlayStation Exclusive Now?
Nope. Bungie will remain an independent subsidiary of Sony and continue on as a multiplatform studio, according to Bungie. This is very different from what Phil Spencer said about the ZeniMax and Activision-Blizzard acquisitions: Once they were announced, Phil was very clear that existing commitments will be respected and that games already out on other platforms will continue to be supported.
With Bethesda, everything he said came true, and then Bethesda games not already out on PlayStation and not covered by a contract, like the upcoming Starfield or Elder Scrolls VI, were announced to be, in fact, Xbox/PC exclusives. If Microsoft had the intention to truly keep Bethesda games or Activision-Blizzard games multiplatform forever, Phil would make a statement to that effect.
Related: Why Activision-Blizzard Games Will Be Microsoft/Xbox Exclusives
However, there is another huge Microsoft gaming company acquisition that did work almost the same as Sony's purchase of Bungie seems to be working: Mojang. When Microsoft bought Mojang, their only IP was (and is) Minecraft, a game that was already availible on a number of platforms, and their business model was built around supporting Minecraft without any serious plans for a sequel.
Once a game comes out, it's out. Maybe the game isn't very good; maybe the game isn't updated at all; and maybe the servers, one day, eventually even get taken offline. Nonetheless, there is no circumstance where a major game available on PlayStation or Xbox simply gets removed from the platform, deleted from the servers, and uploaded to another platform.
When a gaming company buys another gaming company, there has never been a serious concern that games the company being purchased already developed and released will somehow get taken down off their original platforms. The real concern is about future games.
Related: WoW Is Coming to Console/Xbox
So, when a company's value is entirely tied up in a single game or IP that's already multiplatform, the only thing a parent company can feasibly do is let the studio remain independent and take the money the studio makes. This was true of Mojang, and it is true of Bungie.
Why Did Sony Buy Bungie? Is Halo Coming to PlayStation?
Halo is not coming and will never come to PlayStation. This is an IP owned and controlled by Microsoft, and Bungie has no rights to develop Halo games themselves.
Sony buying Bungie, however, is a much more complicated question. On one hand, Microsoft has dominated the news cycle for over a year in the context of their huge ZeniMax and Activision-Blizzard purchases on top of the many, many other studios they've purchased in years prior. So, it makes sense Sony would respond with a purchase of its own.
Plus, Call of Duty is hugely important to PlayStation. While the next three games in the franchise are definitely coming to PlayStation because of prior contractual agreements, eventually the series will leave Sony's console behind. When this happens, Sony will need to make sure they have AAA shooters in their library that they can guarantee will stay in the PlayStation ecosystem forever.
Related: Call of Duty Will Be an Xbox Exclusive
This is why Sony partnered with Deviation Games, a studio founded and staffed primarily by former Call of Duty developers, to develop a brand new PlayStation IP, likely one to compete with other major shooters like Call of Duty, Halo, or Battlefield. Sony's hedging its bets and trying to fill the major esport/shooter gap in its exclusive catalog.
Bungie is a veteran studio with almost exclusive experience in the shooter genre. And beyond Destiny, which may not be near the height of its popularity and was never as beloved as Halo, Bungie has announced they're working on an entirely new IP set to hit store shelves theoretically by 2025.
As the next few years go by and the last Call of Duty games ever to come to PlayStation get released, Deviation Games and Bungie will drop big new AAA shooters on PlayStation, hopefully satiating gamers upset that the most popular shooters, like Halo or Call of Duty, are exclusive to Xbox and PC.
Related: How Microsoft Can Fix Call of Duty and Why It Might Happen
Should Sony Have Bought Bungie? Is This Good for Gaming?
Why Sony is buying Bungie is pretty clear. And if Bungie manages to release a new Halo and Deviation Games manages to release a new Call of Duty, then Sony's gamble will absolutely not just be worth it but solve their most pressing problems when it comes to the PlayStation's game catalog.
However, this is extremely unlikely. Call of Duty has been the king of shooters, in terms of sales and popularity, for nearly 20 years. Many, many games have tried to be Call of Duty killers. And even games developed by former Call of Duty devs have tried to be the next big thing in shooters, like Respawn with Titanfall, and none of them have ever managed to truly dethrone Call of Duty.
Maybe Deviation Games is the exception to the rule, but statistically speaking, it's not likely. There's a similar thing going on with Bungie. Halo is perhaps the most iconic shooter ever made, and its legacy will endure as long as gaming does as a medium. But Halo games are still coming out, and people still love them.
Related: Will Microsoft Make Call of Duty a Free To Play Exclusive?
On top of that, many games have also tried to be the next Halo, and no game has ever managed to scratch the same itch as Halo on such a massive scale. Even Destiny's reception and legacy are totally overshadowed by Bungie's work on Halo. This isn't to say that Bungie can't build another shooter that changes the world, but it is to say that it's extremely unlikely.
Ultimately, Sony's investment into Bungie will become worthwhile depending on what the studio actually releases, and even if Deviation Games' project alongside Bungie's new IP isn't the most successful games ever, they'll fill an important gap in Sony's game library.
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