Bungie Officially Joins PlayStation Studios, Helping With Live Service Capabilities

thegamer.com:

PlayStation has announced that the $3.6 billion acquisition of Destiny 2 developer, Bungie, has finally been completed. The deal was first announced in January, right after Microsoft announced its massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard. There were rumblings that the finalization of the deal would be pushed to next year due to a probe by the US Federal Trade Commission, however, it was merely standard procedure, as the deal has now been completed, five months after it was announced.

At the time, Bungie stressed that it was committed to delivering the best experience to Destiny 2 players across all platforms. "Our commitment to Destiny 2 as a multi-platform game with full Cross Play remains unchanged. We want you to play The Witch Queen on February 22, 2022, on the platform of YOUR choice," said the company in an FAQ. "We want to maintain the same great experience you already have on your platform of choice." ​

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While Sony and Bungie will both be looking to expand and improve upon the Destiny IP, that's not the only reason the studio was acquired. Bungie is one of the foremost studios in terms of creating a live service infrastructure. With that in mind, it will play a major role in a new internal department called Live Service Center of Excellence.

Sony detailed this in an investment report in May. Bungie will play a supporting role in the SIE framework, sharing its knowledge and expertise in the live service space with other studios within the PlayStation family. This will be a major step for Sony, as the company plans to have a number of live service games up and running by 2025.

However, while the Live Service Center of Excellence is a long term plan, in the more