Sony to buy ‘Destiny’ videogame developer Bungie in $3.6 billion deal

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(Reuters) -Sony Interactive Entertainment will purchase Bungie Inc, the unique creator of the “Halo” videogame and developer of “Destiny”, in a deal valued at $3.6 billion, making it the newest in a wave of consolidations sweeping the gaming sector.

Bungie will be a part of Sony’s PlayStation household, the U.S. firm stated in a weblog publish, because the Japanese conglomerate strengthens its community of in-house gaming studios behind hits akin to “Spider-Man” to tackle cash-rich rivals.

Microsoft Corp, whose XBox consoles have lengthy lagged Sony’s PlayStation in gross sales, pitched a whopping $69 billion for “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard earlier in January.

“While that is one in all Sony’s biggest-ever acquisitions, the quantity paid by Microsoft places into context the heavy competitors confronted in this sector,” stated Piers Harding-Rolls, gaming analyst at Ampere Analysis.

Bellevue, Washington-based Bungie, which was owned by Microsoft earlier than going personal in 2007, had labored on the “Halo” videogame sequence when it was below the software program large. It has additionally labored on titles together with “Marathon” and “Myth”.

Bungie now plans to rent extra expertise throughout the studio for “Destiny 2,” a videogame beforehand printed by Activision Blizzard.

The online game house is consolidating quickly to faucet a surge in demand created by the pandemic, with new offers blurring the road between PC and cellular gaming firms as these corporations hunt for brand spanking new income streams.

The sector is on track for a brand new file of $150 billion in offers, financing and IPOs this 12 months, in accordance https://www.reuters.com/expertise/red-hot-gaming-market-breach-150-billion-deals-fundraising-report-2022-01-31 to funding banking agency Drake Star Partners.

In one more mega deal in simply the primary month of the 12 months, “Grand Theft Auto” maker Take-Two bid $11 billion for “FarmVille” maker Zynga.

Big-name firms have additionally been attempting to convey expertise and mental property behind common titles in-house fairly than partnering with studios, giving them extra entry in a rising, high-value market.

Sony has added quite a lot of builders, together with videogame growth studio Valkyrie Entertainment and “Returnal” developer Housemarque, below its umbrella.

“This (Bungie deal) is a crucial step in our technique to broaden the attain of PlayStation to a a lot wider viewers,” stated Jim Ryan, head of the Sony Corp unit liable for PlayStation.

Bungie might be an unbiased unit of Sony Interactive Entertainment, run by its board chaired by CEO Pete Parsons.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)



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