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Sony to buy video game maker Bungie in $3.6B deal

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Re: Sony to buy video game maker Bungie in $3.6B deal

#3

So it's race to buy up all the publishers?

Bungie isn't really a publisher... I guess they maybe self-publish Destiny 2 now?

Microsoft's last 2 big acquisitions have been publishers with many underlying studios all included... I don't know that I can think of Sony really ever doing that; they've mostly bought up individual studios. Of course they're not nearly as big as Microsoft is.

Re: Sony to buy video game maker Bungie in $3.6B deal

#6
Another one! I'm interested to see how this plays out. Most of Microsoft's acquisitions in recent years have been failures. Studios that had been making iconic games were acquired by Microsoft and in short order were only making shovelware (see Rare post acquisition).

Sony doesn't seem to have the same problem. Sucker Punch and Insomniac are good examples of this, their output has been as good as ever since being acquired by Sony. From the outside looking in this seems to be because Sony understands how much creative freedom means to these teams, and they don't inject Sony management into the processes of previously successful game studios. I'd love to hear more of an insider opinion on why acquisitions over the last decade look so differently at these two companies though.

Re: Sony to buy video game maker Bungie in $3.6B deal

#7
post #4

So it's race to buy up all the publishers?

Sony is about to sunset Playstation Plus and Now and merge them into a service that will try to compete with Xbox Gamepass, and to do that you need games.

Its not just to compete with Gamepass, it’s moving to where the customer is. Over the next 10 years, where is the growth in gaming going to come from? Hint: not selling more 400 watt white and black boxes dedicated to gaming that plug into screens. Sony and Microsoft are less interested in competing with each other and more interested in protecting the total market from Google, Amazon and Apple. None of those companies have legacy console business, have enormous cash piles and understand there is a bright future in gaming ($$$)

Re: Sony to buy video game maker Bungie in $3.6B deal

#9
It would be silly for the existing mainline franchises of several games to become exclusive to Sony, just like the same with Microsoft with their recent purchases of Activision and ZeniMax. Who doesn't want more money for multi-platform and cross-play games?

I would expect that the spin-offs or DLCs and the new IP from those studios to make them exclusive.

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