Just in January, Microsoft announced that it would buy Activision Blizzard at $95 per share, an all-cash transaction worth $68.7 billion, making it the largest acquisition in gaming history.
Sony interactive entertainment company SIE is not far behind, planning to spend $3.6 billion to buy Studio Bungie, which develops works such as Destiny and Halo Halo.
On Monday, Jan. 31, EST, Bungie saw the deal as the beginning of a new era for the company that would expand beyond gaming to global multimedia entertainment content. According to the official blog published by CEO Pete Parsons, Bungie will continue to operate as an independent multi-platform studio and publisher.
Together, we dream of creating and nurturing iconic franchises that unite friends around the world, families of generations, and fans across multiple platforms and entertainment media.
We will continue to release our games independently, develop our games creatively, and continue to push for a unified Bungie community. Our games will continue to appear wherever the community is located, no matter what platform they choose.
Sony said that after the completion of the transaction, Bungie will become an independent subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment and will be managed by the board of directors chaired by Parsons and Bungie's current management team; at the same time, Sony said the Bungie team will continue to focus on the long-term development of Halo2 and is committed to expanding the Halo universe and creating a "whole new world of future IP".
Kenichiro Yoshida, Chairman and CEO of Sony Group of Companies, said:
Bungie has created and continues to grow some of the world's most popular video game franchises, bringing together millions of people around the world by aligning their values with people's desire to share gaming experiences.
"Past Life" with Microsoft, "This Life" with Sony
Given Microsoft's storied history with Bungie, Sony's acquisition of Bungie is an eye-opening move.
In 2000, Microsoft acquired Bungie to develop a game for its then-upcoming Xbox console. It created the Halo series of games and developed the entire original trilogy, which was primarily responsible for putting the original Xbox console and its successors on the map. At the time, the Halo series was only sold on Microsoft's Xbox system, not Sony's PlayStation.
In 2007, Bungie spun off from Microsoft. Since then, Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios has continued to make new Halo games, and the company owns only the intellectual property behind the series of games, while Microsoft softly retains the haro franchise.
In 2010, Bungie signed a 10-year distribution deal with Activision around its Destiny series of games. However, the partnership ended in early 2019, and Activision said the gaming series did not meet its financial expectations.
Jim Ryan, president and representative director of Sony Interactive Entertainment, added in a blog post: "I want to make it clear to the community that Bungie will remain an independent multi-platform studio and publisher. As such, we think it makes sense for it to work alongside the PlayStation Studios organization, and we are incredibly excited about the synergies and opportunities between these two world-class groups. “
Undoubtedly, for Bungie Studios, having the support of platform companies behind them means they usually don't have to worry about funding, production and marketing resources, and as the blog post states, Bungie will "accelerate talent acquisition across the studio to support our ambitious vision." However, although both parties said that Bungie will remain independent and will be promoted on multiple platforms, some media still believe that whether the studio's multi-platform promotion will be limited by Sony is still a question mark.
Sony ADR (SONY) rose 4.56% before trading suspension due to the intraday suspension of trading on Monday; after the resumption of intraday trading, it rose more than 6.04%; as of the close, Sony closed up 4.53% at $111.66, a cumulative decline of 11.57% year-to-date.
Mergers and acquisitions in the game industry are booming, and they continue to this day in 2021
According to PitchBook, M&A deals across the gaming industry nearly tripled from $8.9 billion in 2020 to $26.2 billion in 2021.
Last year, GameLook reported that in the first half of 2021, the amount of game transactions hit an unprecedented $60 billion, with more than 635 transactions completed. Among them, there were 169 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, with a transaction value of up to $23 billion.
The game M&A industry continues to be hot in 2022. In January 2022, Microsoft spent a huge amount of money to acquire Activision Blizzard, a company that may be a "mess" or a "meta-universe entrance", making it the third largest game company in the world, after Tencent and Sony.
Take-Two Interactive Software also said in January that it had agreed to buy mobile game maker Zynga for $11 billion.
Sony's move indicates that the game platform merger and acquisition of game developers has entered the competition track, and the "banknote ability" competition in the game industry may have just begun.