Sony Interactive Entertainment's surprise acquisition of Bungie had many concerned, but now we know a little bit more about what it will mean for the industry.
The first thing everyone thought when they heard the news that Bungie was being purchased by Sony Interactive Entertainment was "damn, does that mean Bungie games are going to be PlayStation-exclusive?". It's a fair question, especially after Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda last year, which saw most future Bethesda games become exclusive to Xbox platforms and PC. Now, it seems like we have a bit of news that may please many of our readers.
Recently, Activision Blizzard was also bought by Microsoft, with the company securing a pretty unbelievable package of studios and IPs that will one day migrate onto Microsoft platforms like Xbox and Windows as platform-exclusive games. Whilst it doesn't look like Call of Duty will be Xbox-Exclusive in the next three years, the whole thing has many gamers concerned that their favourite franchises are soon to be locked away behind platform-exclusive pay walls.
It thus comes with great surprise, but also great relief that we answer a pretty important question for you today – the question of whether Destiny, and any other games that Bungie may be developing, will be PlayStation-Exclusive as a result of the acquisition. The buy-up of Bungie by Sony Interactive Entertainment is a pretty historical moment for the industry, especially considering Bungie's history as a previously-Xbox-Exclusive studio back in the OG Xbox and Xbox 360 days. Let's get on with things, though.
Will Bungie Be PlayStation-Exclusive?
It has been confirmed that Bungie currently has no plans of being PlayStation-exclusive, and that Sony Interactive Entertainment will not be making them do so. In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Sony Interactive Entertainment's CEO, Jim Ryan, actually established directly that there are no plans to make Bungie exclusive to PlayStation. In the statement, he said the following:
The first thing to say unequivocally is that Bungie will stay an independent, multiplatform studio and publisher... this was one of the first, and actually easiest and most straightforward, conclusions we [Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie] reached together
Additionally, Jim Ryan confirmed that Sony Interactive Entertainment wants to honour the fact that Destiny has a very wide-reaching and eclectic community, across multiple platforms, and that they want it to stay that way. It certainly looks like Ryan, and the folks over at Sony, have no plans – at least for the time being – to make it so that future Bungie games will only be available on PlayStation consoles.
This is extremely good news for gamers, many of whom would have been worried – due to the reasons we outlined above – that some of their favourite games, and one of their favourite studios, would become unavailable to themselves and their friends. The move also makes a lot of sense considering that many gaming companies are moving more towards the live game-as-a-service model, something that wouldn't make much sense when combined with platform-exclusivity.
After all, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie both want to make as much money as possible. There is more money in live games-as-a-service if you put those games across multiple platforms, as is currently seen with Destiny 2. This way they can maximise the income generated by micro-transactions, and generate a cross-platform community that is far more inclusive and far more liable to spend large amounts of money. Seeing as this is also good news for all of us Bungie and Destiny fans, it looks like this is a win-win situation.