Sony acquired Bungie on Monday in yet one more colossal acquisition between two gaming giants. While some great benefits of proudly owning a triple-A developer with a preferred IP would appear apparent, the specifics of the deal have led to questions on Sony’s technique within the intensifying conflict towards Xbox.

Before I try to clarify Sony’s technique, let’s speak about a few of the vital particulars we already know in regards to the Bungie acquisition, and what’s going to occur as soon as the deal goes by way of. As we discovered, Sony is spending $3.6 billion to purchase Bungie, the builders of the first-person shooter franchise Destiny and the creators of the Halo franchise (which is now below Microsoft rule).

Despite being wholly owned by Sony, Bungie will proceed to behave as an impartial studio in the case of the event and publishing of its video games. And in case this buy frightened Microsoft followers, Bungie video games—each present and upcoming—promise to be multi-platform, that means Sony gained’t pressure console exclusivity. Expansions, cross-platform options, and in-game gadgets will proceed to be supplied on Xbox as they’re on PlayStation. And lastly, Bungie will exist alongside Sony’s PlayStation Studio group moderately than becoming a member of some two dozen different studios below the division. In brief, Bungie will function as regular however now belongs to Sony.

Comparisons between this acquisition and Microsoft’s current $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard buy (that’s 19 Bungies) are inevitable, they usually’ve led some to query whether or not Sony is correctly leveraging its new asset. After all, Microsoft simply bought a number of triple-A IPs from one of many largest current sport builders. Some of these titles will seemingly develop into exclusives and the others will at the least assist bolster Game Pass subscriptions. So then, was it that Sony hopes to realize from shopping for a single studio that has targeted all current efforts on one sport?

In the brief time period, Sony will welcome a bigger participant base and a gentle stream of earnings from the acquisition of expansions and in-game forex made by Destiny’s sizable and steady participant base. Maintaining that participant base means preserving them collectively moderately than fracturing the group (which may crew up and compete due to cross-play) with exclusivity. Microsoft will do the identical with Call of Duty though it’s unclear whether or not that’s a strategic choice or a requirement to honor current agreements.

There can also be hypothesis that Sony may very well be holding Destiny as ammunition in a Cold War towards Microsoft—pressuring its rival to maintain standard Activision Blizzard video games working throughout a number of platforms. This, to me, looks like an unlikely issue or consequence of the deal contemplating Microsoft already holds the rights to Halo. Also, Sony would create pointless in poor health will having already promised players that it’s going to preserve Destiny and forthcoming Bungie releases (together with an unnamed new IP set for 2025) on Xbox.

Beyond a preferred sport that would assist fill a gaping first-person-shooter gap in its catalog, Sony is shopping for a studio with pedigree, one it will possibly assist broaden and belief sufficient to launch high quality titles. Sure sufficient, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons wrote in a blog post that essentially the most fast change would be the potential for Bungie to extra shortly rent expertise throughout the studio. If all goes properly, Bungie will comply with Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games as Sony-owned studios whose releases drive large gross sales figures and snatch awards on the finish of every 12 months.

“This is a strategic step towards continuing to evolve the gaming experiences that we build,” Jim Ryan, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s CEO, wrote in a blog post. “Bungie’s expertise in delivering a world-class service approach and long-term community engagement is extremely compelling and will support the development of several future live services titles from PlayStation Studios.”

I point out the 2 studios above as a result of they’re concerned in one other aspect to the Bungie deal that has flown considerably below the radar: the potential for Sony to broaden Destiny past gaming, which is one thing Bungie was already planning previous to this announcement. Read between the traces of what each Sony and Bungie execs have mentioned to date and the writing is on the wall.

“Together, we share a dream of creating and fostering iconic franchises that unite friends around the world, families across generations, and fans across multiple platforms and entertainment mediums,” Bungie CEO Pete Parsons wrote in a submit.

Take this as hypothesis, however that sounds rather a lot to me like “Destiny the TV show/movie” might quickly be within the works. Bungie is hardly preserving it a secret, both. Last 12 months, the studio posted a job itemizing (by way of IGN) for a brand new senior govt who might “drive projects that extend the Destiny franchise into new categories including TV, films, books, comics, and audio formats.”

Sony might make for the best accomplice. Not solely has the corporate proven a capability to nurture studios, however Sony Pictures—a sister division inside the Japanese conglomerate—has the data and sources to show Destiny into a large media franchise. We are mere weeks away from the discharge of the Uncharted film, an adaptation of considered one of Sony’s most profitable video video games collection. And the post-apocalyptic thriller franchise The Last of Us is within the means of being became an HBO TV collection.

Whether an ironic twist or a pointy jab on the competitors, the Sony/Bungie announcement comes a day after Paramount+ debuted the trailer for the long-awaited live-action Halo collection, which is able to carry the franchise initially created by Bungie to life. With this acquisition, it seems extra seemingly than ever that the conflict towards Guardians and Spartans will discover a new battlefield past the controller.