Here’s what Sony’s Bungie deal means for Destiny

digitaltrends.com:

Sony is in the process of acquiring Bungie, and while that’s a pretty big deal for the games industry, anyone who doesn’t play Bungie’s games may not have much of a reason to care. For Destiny players though, the acquisition throws the franchise’s entire future into the air. Previous acquisitions, like Microsoft’s purchase of ZeniMax Media, have led to franchises that used to be cross-platform becoming platform exclusives.

So, what does Bungie’s acquisition mean for the Destiny franchise and the game’s fans? Let’s break it down.

Executives from both sides of this deal — Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan and Bungie CEO Pete Parsons — have stated that the Destiny games won’t suddenly become PlayStation exclusives.

Ryan’s statement about the acquisition on the PlayStation blog opens with him bluntly stating: “First off, I want to be very clear to the community that Bungie will remain an independent and multiplatform studio and publisher.” But this is grade-A executive speak. In neither of their statements do Ryan or Parsons mention Xbox, or explicitly state that the Destiny franchise will remain on Xbox consoles.

Multiplatform doesn’t simply refer to PlayStation and Xbox. If a game is playable on PC and PlayStation consoles, for instance, it is multiplatform. Destiny 2 is currently playable on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Google Stadia. Cutting Xbox consoles out of there would still leave the game as a multiplatform title.

But players won’t have to worry about their game being pulled away from them any time soon. In an FAQ, Destiny 2‘s development team said that Destiny would continue to be supported on Xbox, Steam, and Stadia.

Bungie’s future titles are in much murkier territory. In the same FAQ