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'.
• Activision also use to own Bungie during initial work on Destiny.
• Sony acquired Bungie in 2022, but they're the only first-party developer not part of 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 all of PS Studios? Desperation. Sony saw the money live-service games like Destiny were making, but had no in-house knowledge to make their own.

To get Bungie to sell, Sony overpaid at $3.6 billion and accepted all their terms. Bungie now advises other PS Studios on how to make a live-service game.

My Analysis & Predictions

On PS5, Bungie has only released a port of Destiny 2. In 2023, they announced a live-service extraction shooter called Marathon, but it's not been seen since.

There's reasons to be wary of Marathon though. Sony paid a lot for Bungie's live-service knowledge, but D2 has been severely underperforming since the acquisition. This situation forced layoffs to ensure Bungie hit internal targets and prevent a Sony takeover of their board.

Since then, D2's 'The Final Shape' released to critical acclaim, but we don't know how well it sold. Sony could still take over depending on this crucial fact. It's therefore hard to believe Marathon can succeed under these conditions.

Destiny 2's Last Expansion

PS5 Games