Sony is buying Bungie, makers of the Destiny video game and pioneers of the early Xbox years as developers of the original Halo game series for Microsoft.
The move comes just weeks after Microsoft continued a recent trend of concentrating ownership of famous video game studios by announcing an agreement to buy Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion.
In contrast, Sony is paying $3.6 billion to acquire Bungie.
In a blog post on Monday, Bungie announced it is joining forces with Sony Interactive Entertainment, which describes it as “a partner that gives us unconditional support in everything we are” and allows the developer to maintain “creative independence.”
The blog post reads, “Together we share the dream of creating and nurturing iconic franchises that unite friends around the world, families across generations, and fans across multiple platforms and entertainment media.”
Significantly, Bungie’s continued independence will ensure its games are available across a variety of platforms, which is unlikely long-term when it comes to Activision Blizzard and Bethesda products on Xbox and Windows.
“We keep our destiny in our hands,” the post continues. “We will continue to publish and creatively develop our games independently. We will continue to drive a unified Bungie community. Our games will continue to be where our community is, wherever they choose to play.”
Sony’s acquisition of Bungie is a telling move given Microsoft’s long history with the developer. It created the Halo game series and developed the entire original trilogy that was largely responsible for putting the original Xbox console and its successors on the map.
Microsoft even owned Bungie as a first-party studio between 2000 and 2007 before returning to an independent entity. It stopped development of the Halo franchise and Microsoft retained the rights. The iconic series has been acquired by 343 Industries, the first-party Microsoft studio that just released Halo Infinite.
PlayStation boss Jim Ryan added in a blog post: “I want to be absolutely clear to the community that Bungie will remain an independent and cross-platform studio and publisher. As such, we think it makes sense to sit alongside the PlayStation Studios organization and we’re incredibly excited about the opportunities for synergy and collaboration between these two world-class groups.”