Bungie Will Support Sony in Live-service Game Development
Bungie will continue to create multiplatform titles - the acquisition by Sony will not change anything here. Instead, the studio will assist the company in the development of live-service games.
- Bungie will assist Sony in developing the company's projects;
- The Japanese would like to enter the market of extensive live-service games;
- The agreement will enable Bungie to increase the reach of its brands.
Yesterday the new broke that Sony acquired Bungie. Buying an experienced team may have suggested to some players that the creators of Destiny will focus on developing a new, big IP for the Japanese company. After all, Bungie was responsible for the most famous series of Xbox exclusives, Halo, until 2010, so the team definitely has the potential. It turns out that the reason for the acquisition was completely different.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sony CEO Jim Ryan stated that Bungie will largely remain an independent studio. The team will continue to develop their brands as they see fit, releasing them across multiple platforms. From Sony's point of view, the company's experience is what's invaluable, which will help the Japanese in the development of their own projects. The publisher would like to enter the market of huge live-service games developed over many years. Bungie has the knowledge how to create such productions, as the studio's portfolio includes Destiny 2, representing this very genre.
This is to be connected with Sony's broader plans for further development. The company wants to reach beyond the boundaries set by PlayStation and offer players titles available on multiple platforms. These are to be elaborate games and gather a huge community of committed fans. Live-service games seem to be the perfect vessel to achieve these goals.
For Bungie, this deal is beneficial for other reasons as well. Sony's support will enable the studio to be more ambitious in the further development of its projects. According to Pete Parsons, the company's CEO, Bungie would like to further increase the scale of the virtual worlds it creates, which can be understood as a desire to transfer some brands to other media. It is possible that Sony and Bungie would collaborate on a hypothetical movie or TV adaptation of Destiny or other titles from the studio.
It seems that this arrangement is very beneficial for both sides. However, we will have to wait for the effects of this cooperation.
