PlayStation boss Jim Ryan says we should expect more studio acquisitions in the future, in the wake of today’s news that Sony is buying Destiny developer Bungie for $3.6 billion. GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring tweeted that Ryan said, “we should expect more” when it comes to further PlayStation acquisitions.
In the full GamesIndustry.biz interview with Ryan and Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, which was published after Dring’s tweets, Ryan said that Sony has “many more moves to make.” He also talked about Sony’s ambition to grow its live services and grow beyond PlayStation’s “historic console heartland.”
“I’ve been on record talking about increasing the size of the PlayStation community, and expanding beyond our historic console heartland. This can take many forms,” Ryan said. “We are starting to go multiplatform, you’ve seen that. We have an aggressive roadmap with live services. And the opportunity to work with, and particularly learn from, the brilliant and talented people from Bungie… that is going to considerably accelerate the journey we find ourselves on.”
Parsons added that Bungie is “working on more than Destiny” and that the studio sees its partnership as an opportunity “to build.”
It’s been an acquisition frenzy so far in the games industry in 2022. In the last few weeks, Take-Two acquired Zynga for $12.7 billion, and then Microsoft blew that number out of the water by spending $68.7 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard King. While Sony’s timing may indicate that the Bungie acquisition was a response to Microsoft’s move earlier this month, Dring says this deal was in the works long before that, for the past five or six months. So, it’s not a direct response to the Activision deal.
The deal was in the works for the past 5/6 months. Its not a reaction to the Take-Two/Zynga or Microsoft/Activision deals.
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) January 31, 2022
Dring also says this deal could lead to Bungie taking its properties, like Destiny, to television and movies. Sony has been making a big entertainment push with its IP, including the upcoming Uncharted movie, Last of Us TV series, Ghost of Tsushima movie, and more. It’s possible we could see Destiny make that move as well.
Elsewhere, Ryan addressed IGN’s recent report on Bungie’s efforts to reform its workplace culture, which at times has been extremely toxic. Ryan called it an area that Sony takes “incredibly seriously.”
“We hold ourselves to extremely high standards throughout the organization, and with the businesses that we partner. This is something that I have been incredibly sensitive to, right from he start of the conversations,” Ryan said. “And I have been nothing but impressed, and I have nothing but the highest praise for the way that Bungie organizes and conducts itself. There are a number of areas that Sony can learn from Bungie. Philanthropy is a cornerstone value, and I think that speaks to everything.”
Sony has been busy with studio acquisitions over the past few years, so it makes sense that the Bungie deal doesn’t mark the end of the road. Last year alone, Sony acquired five studios, including Returnal developer Housemarque, Bluepoint Games, Firesprite, Nixxes, and Valkyrie.
For more on the Sony Bungie deal, check out what Jim Ryan is saying about Bungie’s independence, and what the deal means for Destiny 2.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
