Sony is buying Bungie for $3.6 billion

[rusty_shackleford]

Yes, the conglomerate ownership is japanese, but the people who control the gaming division are kwan homos.

"s-s-sure the japanese let it happen... but... americans!!!"
weeb cope

 

[lycanwarrior]

I don't get it.

Bungie is as washed up a studio as you can get. Did they buy them, just to buy someone?

Destiny 2 is a massively successful live service looter shooter.

It may be, but it's not a $3.6 billion dollar looter shooter.
That's half as much as Microsoft paid for the entirety of Bethesda. I don't mean Bethesda the developer, I mean Zenimax the parent company including Bethesda the publisher.
Bethesda, Arkane, Id, Zenimax Online, etc.,
Elder scrolls(including Online), Fallout, Doom, Quake, Rage, Starfield, Dishonored, Prey, Wolfenstein, ...

I'm guessing that in the eyes of investors and gaming execs, a successful live service game is worth way more to them then one-and-done critically-acclaimed single-player games, sad to say.

As the cringe trannie James Sterling would say, llllliiiiiivvvvve ssssserrrrrrrrviiiiiiice lmao.

 

[J_C]

I don't think these japs know how money works. You're supposed to buy good companies.

The Codex:
Hurr-durr LOL, Sony bought crappy Bungie. LOL

Meanwhile at Bungie HQ during Destiny business meeting:

Copium

Thanks for proving my point. Destiny has solid 80-100K players each and every day, with huge spikes with every expansion. This means TOP 10-15 on Steam. A steady money generator.

 

[baud]

I don't think these japs know how money works. You're supposed to buy good companies.

The Codex:
Hurr-durr LOL, Sony bought crappy Bungie. LOL

Meanwhile at Bungie HQ during Destiny business meeting:

Copium

Thanks for proving my point. Destiny has solid 80-100K players each and every day, with huge spikes with every expansion. This means TOP 10-15 on Steam. A steady money generator.

Isn't Destiny 2 Free to Play at this point?

 

[ADL]

Isn't Destiny 2 Free to Play at this point?

Yes but the free2play is so fucking bad I can't imagine anyone is playing it that way for more than a couple hours without rushing to buy the releases. They've removed the Red War campaign and three weeks from now they're removing the Forsaken campaign with The Witch Queen's release. No idea what free2players will have after that.
‘Destiny 2’ Made Two Years Of Content Free, But It’s Deleting It, So What Now?

 

[JamesDixon]

Isn't Destiny 2 Free to Play at this point?

Yes but the free2play is so fucking bad I can't imagine anyone is playing it that way for more than a couple hours without rushing to buy the releases. They've removed the Red War campaign and three weeks from now they're removing the Forsaken campaign with The Witch Queen's release. No idea what free2players will have after that.
‘Destiny 2’ Made Two Years Of Content Free, But It’s Deleting It, So What Now?

They made a problem that they are selling the solution to. If anyone that plays the game and buys shit that just means to everyone that they're a bunch of retards.

 

[0wca]

If Bungie was still making games like this:

Spoiler

...It'd be worth the buyout.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Bungie seems like a weird get. I'm pretty sure Microsoft still owns some of Bungie; back when they let them go in 2007 (because if they didn't Bungie [or at least a lot of key people that were left anyways] would just walk and form a new company) they didn't let go off all of Bungie, just a controlling interest in Bungie. So I think Microsoft still to this day owns some of them, and makes money off them. I'm guessing because Microsoft still owns a bit of them, (I can't remember, like 20% maybe, maybe more) unlike all these deals Microsoft has been making the last few years, Bungie won't just be making games exclusively for Sony systems. Beside Microsoft they're also owned by NetEase. So Sony just bought up a developer that both Microsoft and NetEase have minor stakes in.

Also seems weird because I didn't think anymore really gave much of a shit about 2022 Bungie. Like I played some free Destiny a few years ago and thought it fucking sucked...and found it a little funny they made a big stink about Microsoft making them make Halo game, and how they wanted to do something else, then when freed from Microsoft they just turn around and basically make Halo Online under a different name. I know Destiny had its fans for whatever fucking reason, dropped on their heads at birth I guess, but it sounded like since 2017 or something Bungie has been losing even those people more and more.

Guess it would be funny to see Bungie make a Killzone.

 

[Talby]

Some exec was expecting they would get Halo as a fuck you to Microsoft and is now frantically searching for their receipt.

 

[†††]

Some exec was expecting they would get Halo as a fuck you to Microsoft and is now frantically searching for their receipt.

Reminds me of that story when Microsoft thought they got Donkey Kong after acquiring RARE https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2...t_they_owned_donkey_kong_after_acquiring_rare

 

[J1M]

Some exec was expecting they would get Halo as a fuck you to Microsoft and is now frantically searching for their receipt.

Reminds me of that story when Microsoft thought they got Donkey Kong after acquiring RARE https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2...t_they_owned_donkey_kong_after_acquiring_rare

Plot twist: the same exec works at Sony Interactive now.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

There are weird little instances where stuff like that happens. It's not completely crazy to think Rare might have gotten Donkey Kong given as a brand there'd been nothing new in a decade before Rare took it over, and from Donkey Kong Country in '94 to DK64 in '99 Rare were the only ones making Donkey Kong games. Like, back before Street Fighter 4, when Street Fighter was basically just a American comic book being made by Udon, Capcom Japan sold the rights to Street Fighter to Capcom USA. So while Street Fighter is still owned by Capcom since they own Capcom USA, the rights have been held by the American side of Capcom since like 2003 or something...this may have changed in the last few years, but from the early 2000s to a few years ago Capcom USA owned Street Fighter.

 

[ADL]

In its recent Q3'21 earnings report, Sony confirmed it plans to spend a sizable portion of its Bungie buyout offer on retention. Sony says it is prepared to pay 1/3rd of its $3.6 billion buyout proposal, or roughly $1.2 billion, on a long-term incentive plan that will reward Bungie employees who stay with the company.

Sony will pay the remainder $2.4 billion for a direct buyout of Bungie's private shares. The bonus is aimed at keeping Bungie's current staff intact after the acquisition.

Deferred payments are planned across multiple years following the buyout closure. The company is prepared to pay about $792 million in deferred incentive payments in the first two years after the deal ends.

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/8436...2-billion-retention-incentive-plan/index.html

 

[J1M]

There are weird little instances where stuff like that happens. It's not completely crazy to think Rare might have gotten Donkey Kong given as a brand there'd been nothing new in a decade before Rare took it over, and from Donkey Kong Country in '94 to DK64 in '99 Rare were the only ones making Donkey Kong games. Like, back before Street Fighter 4, when Street Fighter was basically just a American comic book being made by Udon, Capcom Japan sold the rights to Street Fighter to Capcom USA. So while Street Fighter is still owned by Capcom since they own Capcom USA, the rights have been held by the American side of Capcom since like 2003 or something...this may have changed in the last few years, but from the early 2000s to a few years ago Capcom USA owned Street Fighter.

No. It's completely stupid because the characters continued to appear in flagship Nintendo products with millions of sales.

 

[Alienman]

So who made the big bucks here? Bungie was independent right? I mean I would cash out for 3 billions too if I was the owner. But yeah, like many others are saying, this deal seems like a waste of money. One IP and developer crew doesn't exactly stand out in the sea among other devs.

 

[RNGsus]

So what did Sony actually purchase for all those billions? Myth and Destiny?

It was an arms deal disguised as a game. We should expect Seattle to turn into a shithole warzone any minute.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Myth and Oni are owned by Take-Two. Take-Two got both of those in the Microsoft buyout. That third Myth game wasn't even made by Bungie.

 

[samuraigaiden]

The more I read about this deal and quotes from Sony and Bungie people, the more I'm convinced optics played a huge role.

AFAIK Bungie is a profitable company right now, so buying them is not bad business and it's likely that Sony will easily get a return on the investment from current Destiny 2 revenue and Destiny 3. It also is not going to substantially change anything for PlayStation.

However, Sony and PlayStation are now in the acquisition conversation. It's not anymore just about Microsoft buying companies left and right. Look, Sony is buying too. And they bought Bungie, the people who made Halo. Take that, Bill Gates! Fanboys feel good about themselves, consumers don't feel like they bought into a sinking ship, execs have something to talk about in the golf club, everybody is appeased for the time being.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Sony feeling remorse after buying Bungie

 

[Alienman]

That kind of money is absolutely staggering. Find it incredibly hard to believe these shitty franchises are worth that much.

 

[ADL]

They're backed into a strange, entirely self imposed corner at that valuation. Marathon will make good money but not Destiny money and Destiny has been suffering since the start as a result of half the damn company working on other projects that mostly get cancelled. It's not like you can put them on another OG Marathon/Halo franchise because a linear campaign with arena lobby MP isn't going to make enough $$$ and it'd squander their experience making the defining looter shooter. Like or dislike the genre all you want that's what Bungie is now. They're the looter shooter company now that designs gear systems and raid mechanics.

Meanwhile Destiny probably isn't worth saving with a third entry because of all the baggage it has and the borderline incomprehensible lore and inability to play through the story in it's entirety. Seasonal stuff I understand but not being able to play through the Red War and Forsaken is fucking bullshit.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Just a smokescreen for Myth 4 and incline of unprecedented proportions.

 

[911 Jumper]

Yeah, looks like more evidence that Sony HQ is starting to realise that PlayStation's Western bloat is a costly problem. As I said in the PS5/Xbox thread, HQ in Japan has probably been looking at Nintendo and wondering why PlayStation isn't having the same level of success despite spending millions (billions in this instance) more on game dev and hardware.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Sony feeling remorse after buying Bungie

Anonymous email sent to a Destiny youtuber, Aztecross. Seems fake, no details on anything that matters. Just stuff that everyone knows + wishful thinking.

 

[911 Jumper]

Bungie CTO Leaves Company After 14 Years, Joins Sony PlayStation