Sony are buying Destiny devs Bungie for $3.6 billion

rockpapershotgun.com:

Just when you thought all the big movers and shakers had done their multi-billion dollar acquisition deals for the year, Sony have just announced they're buying Bungie for $3.6 billion. A small sum, perhaps, in the face of the $69 billion Microsoft are currently shelling out for Activision Blizzard, but rather than simply subsuming the Destiny developer into the PlayStation mothership, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan has said that Bungie will "remain an independent and multi-platform studio and publisher." Well!

"We believe it makes sense for [Bungie] to sit alongside the PlayStation Studios organization, and we are incredibly excited about the opportunities for synergies and collaboration between these two world-class groups," Ryan said in a PlayStation blog post.

He also told our sister site GI.Biz that the acquisition will be "an important step in our strategy to expand the reach of PlayStation to a much wider audience. We understand how vital Bungie's community is to the studio and look forward to supporting them as they remain independent and continue to grow."

And growing seems to be very much on the agenda, according to Bungie CEO Pete Parsons: "We remain in charge of our destiny. We will continue to independently publish and creatively develop our games. We will continue to drive one, unified Bungie community. Our games will continue to be where our community is, wherever they choose to play.

"With Sony’s support, the most immediate change you will see is an acceleration in hiring talent across the entire studio to support our ambitious vision. If this speaks to you, and you want to help us put a dent in the universe, we are hiring across all disciplines for Destiny 2 and for all new