The Game Industry’s Consolidation Arc Heats Up As Sony Acquires Bungie
PlayStation makes an unexpected yet logical acquisition that signals a new era for the gaming behemoth
So Bungie has been acquired...again. This time, Sony has wined and dined the acclaimed studio and as a result, has officially brought them into the PlayStation family for a whopping 3.6 billion dollars.
I can’t lie, I was completely caught off guard by this news. Not only because the Halo creators have been historically associated with Xbox, but because it’s not entirely clear what the (no pun intended) play by PlayStation is here. Let’s dive into it.
PlayStation’s Modus Operandi
For forever now, PlayStation has been known to dominate within two specific categories: exclusives and homegrown studios.
This acquisition seems to be a departure from both.
We’ve seen this story time and time again:
PlayStation partners with a studio to create a console-exclusive title for their platform.
That title does numbers, and the studio becomes synonymous with PlayStation.
PlayStation acquires said studio, effectively putting a ring on an already exclusive relationship.
Bungie almost seems like the complete opposite:
Bungie has historic ties to the Xbox platform.
Destiny has always been a multi-platform game that I’m not sure many people associate with PlayStation.
After the deal was announced, Bungie stated that it would continue to be a multi-platform studio even after the acquisition.
PlayStation runs a clandestine operation. We rarely get accurate reports about what they’re planning or what people are thinking on the inside. I've found it typically very hard to predict or speculate about the gaming giant's moves because of how little information we get. That's what makes this news so exciting. This acquisition is about as big as a signal we could get that there will big shift in how PlayStation plans to approach the games market going forward.
Finally Ready to Break Down Barriers
PlayStation has become the industry leader by building the most desirable and exclusive kingdom in all the lands. For a long time, to experience all of its glory and see what was beyond the kingdom’s walls, you would have no choice but to pay the price of entry.
For a while now, it has seemed like the walls of the kingdom were getting shorter. To the point where today you can just barely see what wonders lie inside. With this acquisition, it seems like the walls may be coming down faster than we thought.
Medieval analogy aside, PlayStation seems like they’re finally ready to embrace the idea of multi-platform experiences. They have started to build a strong cadence of first-party PC releases, they have invested in a studio that specializes in PC ports, and they have now acquired the creators of one of the biggest live-service multi-platform games out right now.
While I don’t think PlayStation games will have a future on other consoles, it does seem like we’re fast approaching a future where, dare I say it, PC players may be getting them at the same time as PlayStation players.
Filling in the Gaps
While PlayStation has prospered from its extraordinary ability to create single-player narrative-driven games, they have realized that for further growth, it will need to expand its wheelhouse.
With the recent acquisitions of Bethesda and Activision/Blizzard, Microsoft has cornered both the FPS market with the industry’s biggest titles like Halo, Call of Duty, Gears, Overwatch, and Doom, as well as the western RPG market with celebrated franchises like Fable, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Outer Worlds.
For a long time, fans have looked past PlayStation’s lack of presence in these spaces. That may change with the threat of many historically multi-platform titles soon being made exclusive to rival ecosystems. It’s too soon to tell, but this could be enough to compel longtime PlayStation fans to invest their money outside of the walled garden.
It seems like the folks at PlayStation recognize this and are investing to make sure they can compete beyond the single-player genre. Jim Ryan is eying the live service space, and he expects teams like Bungie to help push their way in.
It's a smart play, but it’s safe to say PlayStation has an uphill battle ahead of it. Their track record with FPS and multiplayer experiences speaks for itself. They'd had little success establishing a lasting presence in the multiplayer space. That being said, if they want to change the narrative here, I think they’re assembling the right talent to help get it done.
Destiny Movie Coming in Hot
The other angle here is the Destiny film and TV adaptations. Sony obviously has a flag planted in Hollywood, so it would make sense that they could be looking to make a strong effort to intertwine their highly successful gaming business with the reach of their film and TV business.
They have already cashed in on their ownership of Spiderman twelve times over, and they’re currently trying to do the same with The Last of Us and Uncharted. It’s unclear if all of their IP will see the same levels of success that they already have in video games, but Sony is definitely committed to the vision.
I’m personally less as excited on this front. We’ve had stellar adaptations like The Witcher and Arcane be released over the past couple of years, but I’m skeptical if other productions will capture the same magic. We’ll find out soon enough with Halo, Uncharted, Cuphead, and The Last of Us all scheduled to drop their big-screen adaptations this year.
Bungie’s Perspective
I think Bungie got themselves a great deal. In another post, I spoke about how difficult it was to create AAA games, and now they have the safety of PlayStation to do so without fear.
They also seem to be maintaining complete autonomy. They will be able to self-publish and release on whatever platforms they see fit. To me, this deal seems like a no-brainer for Bungie's leadership.
This deal allows them to both hire more talent at an accelerated pace and take risks on new projects. I honestly think this acquisition is great for everyone involved, including the players.
At This Point, It Is Just Galactus Masked as Gaming Companies
In the past couple of years, the big players in the industry have been making a mad dash to swallow up as many studios and publishers as they can afford. Within the past 5 years, Microsoft, Tencent, PlayStation, TakeTwo, and Embracer Group have acquired an insane amount of studios for an even more insane amount of money.
Recently, all eyes have been on Microsoft as they’ve made two of the biggest acquisitions in gaming history (Bethesda and Activision/King/Blizzard) in an effort to build out their unstoppable juggernaut that is GamePass.
Many have wondered, how will PlayStation respond? Well, we finally have our answer...kinda.
This is not a direct response to the Activision/Blizzard acquisition. Jim Ryan said himself that this deal has been in the works for over a year. This is more of a response to the industry trend as a whole.
This may not have been the move that many PlayStation fans have wanted. Cries for the acquisition of Square Enix, or Sega, or Konami have echoed across gaming Twitter for the past couple of weeks. Regardless, it clearly made sense to the PlayStation leadership.
That’s not to say that the acquisitions are done. I think PlayStation still has more work to do if it wants to compete with the money being spent by other publishers, and it seems like Jim Ryan agrees. Whether that’s good or bad is a discussion for another time. Companies have money to be spent, US dollars are rapidly losing their value, and every week, the fear of losing out on a majority of third-party looms over the heads of these gaming execs.