Sony Group Corp. is purchasing Bungie Inc., the U.S. video game developer behind the popular Destiny and Halo franchises, for $3.6 billion (?414.4 billion) to bolster its stable of game-making studios.
The deal announced on Monday by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the third significant video-game acquisition this month, following Microsoft Corp.¡¯s purchase of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion two weeks ago and Take Two Interactive Corp. snagging mobile game leader Zynga Inc. on Jan. 10. Buying Bungie will give Sony one of the most popular first-person shooter games to compete with the massive Call of Duty series, which Sony¡¯s main rival now owns through Activision.
Microsoft is committed to releasing at least the next three Call of Duty games on Sony¡¯s PlayStation, Bloomberg News has reported. But eventually Microsoft could decide to take the series exclusively to its Xbox console and Windows computers. Sony, meanwhile, made clear that Destiny 2 and other titles won¡¯t go solely to PlayStation platforms.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.