PlayStation’s acquisition of Bungie is being heavily scrutinized amid a second round of mass layoffs at the studio. We’ve been monitoring the discourse surrounding the situation on social media and gaming forums, and find that a large part of the PlayStation community is questioning whether the acquisition was worth $3.6 billion.
PlayStation’s aquisition of Bungie revolved around Sony’s live service push
Sony has said on numerous occasions that Bungie is a valuable addition to the PlayStation Studios family because of its experience in the live service arena. Indeed Bungie housed a lot of talent at one point, but Sony’s live service endeavors did not bear much fruit with the exception of some outliers like Helldivers 2.
Sony itself has canceled a number of its live service projects, and with Bungie largely being a single-project studio over the last decade (Marathon will finally change that), it beggars belief what Sony felt was worth $3.6 billion.
Reports claim that Sony gave Bungie an ultimatum to stop bleeding money before the layoffs hit, with the studio’s upper management failing to accomplish that feat. Bungie previously admitted that Destiny 2 is underperforming.
According to journalist and insider Jeff Grubb, Sony’s full takeover of Bungie is only a matter of time, with PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst having already taken charge.
Also, they attempted to soften the blow by sending many people from Bungie into SIE instead of just cutting them. I thought the number of jobs lost was going to be closer to 350.— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) July 31, 2024