Sony’s Bungie Buyout Is Smarter Than It Looks

Sony paid more than $3b for Halo creators Bungie, which on the face of it doesn’t entirely add up. They don’t really have much in the way of IP and, besides, part of the deal will see them keep their independence. That includes the independence to publish games on Xbox.

The house of PlayStation paid almost half of what Microsoft paid for Zenimax. And yet, on the face of it, they will not be getting half-a-Zenimax worth of content.

It’s all too easy to attribute 4d-chess moves to these big, faceless corporations. When they do something seemingly unknowable, we can figure out the details and come up with a solution that, if nothing else, makes us feel our favourite gaming consoles aren’t being created by idiots. Pick an example of something unfair or stupid done by Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony and I’ll show you a forum full of people defending the move.

And yet this is a 4D chess move. This isn’t a move to beat Microsoft or prop up Sony’s aging policies, in which we continue to buy and consume games in exactly the same way we did 15 years ago. No, this is about the future.

Because this is actually genius.

Bungie – The Latest Chess Piece

Sony ending up owning Bungie gave me a little chuckle on Monday evening. Microsoft will own Crash. Sony will own the Microsoft studio that made Halo. What a world.

Sony were quick to point out that Bungie will remain independent. They will publish games on Xbox, if they want to. And, let’s face it, they’ll probably want to.

Why? Because Bungie are the kings of the live service model. Their intention is to have as many people for as long a time as possible. And that’s exactly what Sony wants as well.

Sony makes most of its money out of microtransactions and DLC, digital games and services. Some 66 per cent of their income is covered by those three things, with less than a quarter coming from console hardware. Hardware is PS4 and PS5 combined.

What Sony doesn’t really have is any games where it brings in 100 per cent of the profit from microtransactions. They have historically relied on third parties to make the game, then supported them when they’re successful.

Apex, Fortnite, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto – all of these make money for Sony… but why make 30 per cent if you can make 100 per cent?

And when you’re already raking in that much money, there’s absolutely no reason to limit it to your own console. Fanboys might only want to see PlayStation games on PlayStation hardware. This proves that Sony are looking at the bigger picture.

Which isn’t always what you’d expect on the surface of it. This is the same Sony that charges for cross-play and cross-progression.

This is another step towards a third party Sony, towards a Sony that starts to shake off the constraints of hardware. It’s the Sony that might just create their own decent Game Pass competition. It’s a Sony that can compete when the big boys buy out all the third party publishers.

Because a Sony that’s fair and competitive will always beat Greedy Sony. And the Bungie purchase is a sign of things to come.