Sony's recent announcement that it would be acquiring Destiny 2 developer Bungie has left a lot scratching their heads. The developer moved away from Microsoft and eventually did the same thing with Activision - reclaiming its independence, and yet now it's signed on with Sony.
While Bungie's initial statement about the acquisition suggested Sony would give the company its creative freedom to do as it pleases, it seems a new interview has shed some light on exactly why the former Halo developer decided to tie the knot with PlayStation's creator.
Speaking to during an earnings call Q&A, Sony's CFO Hiroki Totoki mentioned how Bungie wanted to take its IP to new heights and "grow big" with the help of Sony - by expanding into new areas, like movies, possibly.
"[It's] not just for [the] gaming area, but the multi-using of IP and merchandising of IP – like a game title maybe put into movies.
"Bungie want to nurture the IP they have in a multi-dimensional manner, and that's their hope. For that, we believe we can help that – we have [Sony] Pictures and [Sony] Music, and Bungie can leverage our platform so that their IP can flourish and grow big."
It's not the first time we've heard about Bungie wanting to go beyond video games with IP like Destiny.
Hopefully, though, this makes it a little clearer as to why Bungie signed on with Sony, after walking away from both Microsoft and Activision - Activision Blizzard being the company that was part of Xbox's latest acquisition for close to $70 Billion.
Back at the time of the announcement, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan also had the following to say:
"This is a strategic step towards continuing to evolve the gaming experiences that we build. Bungie’s expertise in delivering a world-class service approach and long-term community engagement is extremely compelling and will support the development of several future live services titles from PlayStation Studios. Equally, we see the exceptional skills that PlayStation Studios possess offers the potential to enhance Bungie’s existing and future IP portfolio."
In the immediate future, Bungie will remain a multiplatform studio and will continue to independently publish and creatively develop its games.
What are your thoughts about Bungie joining team PlayStation weeks on? Leave a comment down below.
[source irwebmeeting.com, via twitter.com, ign.com]
Comments 9
Yeah they want movies/tv shows out of the deal too. They already said as much
I actually wondered if this also came into the Acti/Blizz acquisition for Microsoft. We know they are bringing the Halo tv show out. With Call of Duty perhaps they are looking to expand beyond games as well. I know a movie was hinted at recently but yea looks like this content war may transcend gaming.
@K1LLEGAL I don’t know how much interest there would be for a Cod movie. If they basically remade Band of brothers and called in call of duty that could be decent.
Maybe they should bring out a Crash bandicoot movie though…seeing as sonic and Pokémon did well and mario is on the way
@Bleachedsmiles Yea I agree - Having the characters of Crash and Spyro to use in movies and shows is a great plan. But you know, Call of Duty sells, so even just branding a war film “Call of Duty” will probably happen.
I’m one of the few people who is a massive Halo fan, but then when Destiny came out (the first one) it seemed to have such a hollow story that I was disappointed and haven’t played more than a few minutes of any Destiny game. So as a mainly Xbox guy the initial purchase didn’t make me concerned (I know it’s still multiplat but initially we were all curious).
However, I definitely see this purchase as a great opportunity for Destiny to build its universe in movies with Sony. Maybe I’ll give the story a chance again.
I remember back in 2013 when Microsoft wanted to expand into movies, TV and other media and the backlash they faced for not focusing on games. It’ll be interesting to see how this works out for Bungie and Sony.
When heard the news. Thought the same thing for potential revenue. Books, comics, TV shows, animated shows, movies. All those I feel very confident if done well going to make money.
Still feel Microsoft made a play to buy them but the bad blood between them was too much. Plus with all the sony/destiny exclusive things over the years, lot of people actually thought destiny was Playstation exclusive.
That's really interesting. I think all of us assumed it was PlayStation buying Bungie as a counter to MS's buying, but this actually seems like Sony Entertainment bought Bungie for multimedia opportunities. That's jives with their anime consolidation and the like. They seem to be more interested in multimedia properties, Nintendo-style, than gaming properties.
We imagined it as their way of countering Microsoft/Bethesda/Acti, but it sounds like in reality it's more their way of countering Disney/Marvel/Fox.
@K1LLEGAL Call of Duty: Legend of Nam. Call of Duty: Peloponnesian War, A History, Volume II (PBS exclusive.)
What a GIANT load of horsespit, lol. The fact that Sony is making a statement and not Bungie tells me everything I need to know. Sony had CoD and Destiny. That was it. Sony saw CoD being purchases and in desperation and fear, secured the last large FPS ip for their platform. It was a smart move. But a move out of desperation. That's the main reason. Although, I do concede on the idea that Sony has a desire to bastardize the brand with a presence on the big screen in the same way they did with Uncharted and TLOU.
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