Live: Sony is buying Destiny 2 developer Bungie for $3.6 billion - here's what we know

techradar.com:

Here's what our Gaming Guides Editor,Patrick Dane, has to say about the Bungie acquisition:

This is… surprising. Bungie is in a strong place currently and certainly seemed primed for being picked up at some point.

That being said, the company's exceptional position also made it seem like it was building towards a bright independent future led by its flagship franchise Destiny 2.

In 2018, Chinese company NetEase partnered with Bungie and invested $100 million into new projects, and it was believed that that investment was being turned into a game called Matter.  On top of that, in 2020, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons told me, then with Metro UK, that for around three years the company had been working on incubations and a lot had come off.

“So we started about three years ago, Jason and Jonny Ebbert and Zach Russell and a few of us started working on new incubations. The way to think about that is not just on new games. I think that is often the parlance people use. Actually a process around how we want to incubate the potential for new titles, but more importantly, new and amazing talent.”

It's clear that Bungie has been working on several franchises in secret, and Parsons has expressed that he wants the studio to be bigger than just Destiny. Though for now it's impossible to say if it will continue with its own independent IP ambitions or take on projects at the request of its new owners.

One thing to keep in mind though — the company has had two very high-profile splits in its past. Ironically, from Microsoft and Activision. 

This is clearly a retaliatory acquisition to Microsoft’s purchase just two weeks ago, but this is also Sony buying a company in its prime, and showing exciting signs for the future.

One does wonder if this was a