Bungie

History

Founded in 1991, this Washington-based developer is the most unique first-party studio for a variety of reasons:

• Microsoft used to own Bungie when they created Xbox's flagship IP 'Halo'.
• Sony acquired Bungie in 2022, but they're the only first-party developer not in PS Studios. They're an independent Sony subsidiary.
• Bungie are the only first-party developer who can port their games to competing platforms like Xbox.

Why does Bungie have more freedom than PS Studios? Desperation. Sony saw the money live-service games like Destiny were making, but had no in-house knowledge to make their own. For Bungie to sell, Sony overpaid at $3.6 billion and accepted most terms. They were meant to advise on Sony's other live-service games while raking in revenue from Destiny 2, which has severely underperformed post-acquisition.

Since 2023, there's been many rounds of layoffs, Sony taking board seats, a migration of Bungie employers to other PS Studios, and a whole incubation team spun out into teamLFG under PS Studios. Essentially, Sony are recouping what they can from Bungie once it was clear they wouldn't see ROI through their live-service expertise.

My Analysis & Predictions

On PS5, Bungie has only released a port of Destiny 2 in 2020. Although its final paid expansion, 2024's The Final Shape, was critically acclaimed, its underwhelming sales led to the hollowing out of Bungie and further integration into PS Studios.

Bungie also revealed Marathon, a live-service extraction shooter, in 2023. It took until March 2025 to be showcased, with many playtests before its initial September 2025 release. However, Marathon was delayed to 2026 following tepid playtest opinion and a stolen art scandal.

To call Marathon important for Bungie is an understatement. For them to keep any autonomy, it must do well to justify the $3.6 billion acquisition. However, its post-reveal issues and subsequent delay makes this outcome increasingly less likely. Therefore resulting in further changes to Bungie as Sony recoups as much as possible from the failed acquisition.

The Stolen Marathon Art Assets

PS5 Games