Sony is buying Bungie, the original creator of Halo, the video game series that once put Microsoft on the map.
Driving the news: Sony has decided to buy Bungie, which created the Destiny video game franchise and the Halo series.
- The deal is for $3.6 billion.
What they’re saying: Bungie will “continue to independently publish and creatively develop our games,” Bungie CEO Pete Parsons wrote in a blog post about the announcement.
- “Bungie’s world-class expertise in multi-platform development and live game services will help us deliver on our vision of expanding PlayStation to hundreds of millions of gamers,” said Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, in a blog post on the PlayStation Blog.
Why this matters: Sony’s acquisition of Bungie is a huge move in the video game industry as it signals a major company gobbling up a game studio responsible for some of the biggest games in recent history, according to The Verge.
- It’s also another example of Sony and Microsoft purchasing game developers.
- In January, Microsoft snagged Activision Blizzard off the market, becoming the owner of the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft franchises, as I reported for the Deseret News.
One important note to go: Bungie said in an FAQ about the Sony deal that this doesn’t mean Bungie games will be PlayStation exclusive.
- “We want the worlds we are creating to extend to anywhere people play games. We will continue to be self-published, creatively independent, and we will continue to drive one, unified Bungie community,” the company said.