Sony to Buy ‘Halo’ Creator Bungie in $3.6 Billion Deal

The recent deal activity gives big console makers additional ways to compete against each other by acquiring content they could offer exclusively to their customers at launch, through subscription services or other means.

“Bungie has created and continues to evolve some of the world’s most beloved videogame franchises and, by aligning its values with people’s desire to share gameplay experiences, they bring together millions of people around the world,” said Sony Group Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Kenichiro Yoshida.

Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said in a separate news release that the deal will help Bungie grow while preserving the studio’s creative independence.

“Today, Bungie begins our journey to become a global multi-media entertainment company,” Mr. Parsons said.

After the deal closes, Bungie will be an independent subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment and will be run by its board chaired by Mr. Parsons and Bungie’s current management team, Sony said.

In 2000, Microsoft acquired Bungie to develop games for its then-forthcoming Xbox console.

The studio found success in the early 2000s with the cult-classic Halo series, which is available only on Microsoft’s Xbox system and not Sony’s PlayStation.

Bungie, based in Bellevue, Wash., was split off from Microsoft in 2007. Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios has continued to produce new Halo games since then and the company owns the intellectual property behind the franchise.

In 2010, Bungie signed a 10-year publishing deal around its Destiny franchise with Activision. The tie-up ended in early 2019, with Activision saying the shooter series didn’t meet its financial expectations.

Sony said Monday the Bungie team will remain focused on the long-term development of “Destiny 2” and work on expanding the Destiny universe and creating “entirely new worlds in future IP.”

In addition to Sony’s deal for Bungie and Microsoft’s deal for Activision, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. said in January that it had agreed to acquire mobile game maker Zynga Inc. for $11 billion. The activity comes after mergers-and-acquisitions deals within the game industry at large nearly tripled to $26.2 billion in 2021 from $8.9 billion in 2020, according to data from PitchBook.

Last year global consumer spending on game software rose 1.4% to about $180.3 billion, according to industry tracker Newzoo BV. In 2020, such spending jumped about 23% from the previous year, as the pandemic’s social-distancing restrictions prompted people to turn to online entertainment, the analytics firm said.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at [email protected] and Will Feuer at [email protected]