Major acquisitions have become increasingly common over the last couple of years, and Sony has had its own string of purchases as well. Its latest one is easily biggest, having recently announced PlayStation’s acquisition of Bungie for $3.6 billion. Interestingly, however, it seems Bungie is going to operate very differently from how every other developer under the PlayStation Studios banner does.
Sony and Bungie have both emphasized the fact that Bungie is going to retain its creative independence, continue to operate independently, and even self-publish their games as multiplatform releases. In an FAQ published by the developer on its site, it has elaborated on that a little bit more.
For starters, Bungie says that its “commitment to Destiny 2 as a multi-platform game with full cross play remains unchanged”, so you shouldn’t expect it to be taken off Xbox, while the developer also assures that the Destiny 2 experience on non-PlayStation platforms isn’t going to change or be compromised as a result of this acquisition, saying, “We want to maintain the same great experience you already have on your platform of choice.” As you’d expect, upcoming expansion The Witch Queen isn’t going to have any platform exclusive content either. “The Witch Queen will not contain any platform exclusives,” the developer writes. “Every player should have an amazing Destiny experience, no matter where you choose to play.”
Similarly, any and all plans for future Destiny 2 content in terms of seasons, events, expansions, and more remain unchanged as well. Bungie says: “Bungie retains full creative independence for our games and our community. Our plans for the Light and Dark Saga are unchanged, all the way through The Final Shape in 2024.”
Of course, while Destiny is a crucial cog in the Bungie machine, the studio has other irons in the fire as well, specifically with a currently unannounced new IP. Interestingly, Bungie says all of its future games are going to be multiplatform as well, with the studio self-publishing them itself. “We want the worlds we are creating to extend to anywhere people play games,” the developer writes. “We will continue to be self-published, creatively independent, and we will continue to drive one, unified Bungie community.”
As significant as this acquisition is, it seems Sony isn’t done yet. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan has said we should expect more acquisitions by Sony in the future- read more on that through here.