Sony is not looking to secure the exclusivity of games developed and published under the Bungie banner as part of an agreement to acquire the iconic gaming company.
In announcing the $3.6 billion buyout, both Bungie and Sony expressed their commitment to keep future development of hit games like Destiny 2 available to fans “wherever they choose to play.” .
In a statement announcing the acquisition, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said, “Together [Bungie and Sony] 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.”
His PlayStation counterpart, Jim Ryan, was equally emphatic: “Bungie will remain an independent and cross-platform studio and publisher.”
This is in stark contrast to Microsoft’s apparent strategy, where the Xbox maker only promises to honor existing contractual agreements with third-party platforms before deciding what to do with its new toys.
It appears that once these agreements expire, games like Call of Duty may only be playable in locations where Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass is available. Microsoft isn’t ready to publicly commit to either keeping games exclusive or making them available on multiple platforms just yet, as that will be decided on a game-by-game basis.
has reached out to both Sony and Bungie regarding the long term commitment to multi-platform gaming beyond the current and future Destiny 2 expansions. However, both companies were very emphatic in their statements on Monday.
A question and answer posted on Bungie’s website states that all new Destiny expansions – including The Witch Queen coming next month – will remain cross-platform, all cross-game and social elements will remain cross-platform, and that no future games the company develops will use it will be exclusive to PlayStation.
“We want the worlds we create to expand wherever people play games. We will continue to be self-published, creatively independent, and continue to drive a unified Bungie community.”
Players on Steam, Stadia, and Xbox can rest assured that Bungie will continue to support those platforms as long as the platform continues to support Bungie games.