Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan said he wanted to be clear with the community that Bungie will remain an independent and multi-platform studio and publisher. Bungie was founded in 1991 and acquired by Microsoft in 2000, reportedly just days before Apple was going to acquire the studio, and repositioned Halo: Combat Evolved as a launch title for the Xbox. Bungie separated from Microsoft in 2007, but Microsoft retained the rights to the Halo franchise. The studio has since launched the multiplayer first-person shooter franchise Destiny, which comprises two major releases so far. Sony will pay $3.6 billion for Bungie, which is now based in Bellevue, Washington, and has more than 900 employees on payroll. This is the third major gaming acquisition in January, following Take-Two Interactive’s $12.7 billion purchase of Zynga and Microsoft’s monster $68.7 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard. Sony’s deal for Bungie is tiny in comparison to the others, but could be the first of more to come.
