Jeff Grubb has been the story of the summer, which perhaps says a lot about Sony and Microsoft’s own next-gen marketing strategies. The Venture Beat journalist has popped up in approximately one billion articles this year, providing insider teases on internal industry affairs. The latest rumour, which Eurogamer.net has since supported, suggests that Microsoft has been in talks to acquire Destiny developer Bungie – but it’s not true, according to the organisation.
Speaking as part of his GamesBeat podcast, Grubb revealed that he’d “heard” the Xbox division had been sniffing around the studio, but the companies had not been able to agree on a sale price. As mentioned above, Eurogamer.net’s own sources have “corroborated” the story. Although, responding to a post about the rumour on Twitter, Bungie boss Pete Parsons said that it was “false”. There’s some debate over which part of the speculation the developer is actually denying.
To be honest, we wouldn’t be surprised if conversations had taken place, but Bungie obviously is a firm that values its independence. After all, it developed the Halo franchise as a Microsoft subsidiary, before entering into a relationship with Activision that it also worked its way out of. The firm obviously needs finances to sustain itself, but it appears to prefer operating on its own terms, so we’d be surprised if it got acquired unless it’s in particularly dire straits.
[source youtube.com, via eurogamer.net, twitter.com]
Comments 35
WHAT!? I'M SO unsurprised.
What purpose would Microsoft have for buying them out? They don't need Bungie anymore.
Guy responds to the main tweet saying, "this is false" Nibel: "Which part of the tweet is false"
What?
Well it seems if they did go ahead you can just imagine us lot hearing Bungie are assisting in the production of Halo.. they are bringing back all the old developers back aren't they?
It would make utterly zero sense for Bungie to buy their freedom and then jump into bed with another large company. Nonsense rumour.
Jeff Grubb looking like a fool again isnt really PlayStation news though, is it?
How about those flights Sony is booking to ship PS5? 🙂
'Grubb revealed that he’d “heard” the Xbox division had been sniffing around the studio' - the chap down the local uncle's son knows some working at MS who overheard a conversation while cleaning the floor.
@JJ2 Love his everchanging dates for events.
To be fair, Grubb has been accurate on quite a lot this summer. It'd be unfair to make out like he knows nothing. He clearly does have some good sources.
@Orpheus79V
It his 'SmartShift is worrying' bit that got me roll my eyes till they hurt the most.
@get2sammyb
I'd trust Jon Snow more though.
I don't think bungie want to be stuck making halo games again for the rest of the studio lives, I think that's why they left in the first place.
I never believe anything from these companies. Remember when Insomniac denied Sony buyout then a few weeks later, UH OH!!!
I think it is for gamepass. That model is only viable with multiplayer games. I personally don't care about this kind of games but want to play avengers for mindless fun but hate the RPG loadout parts.
@Orpheus79V
Microsoft doesn't need more first party studios? I would disagree. Even the recent acquisitions are spotty at best. Obsidian and Ninja Theory are nice additions, but look at their output. Both release games every 5 years or so.
What do Bungie do apart from Destiny? Do they have any other games (I know about Halo, but that's pretty old). They seem to be a one trick pony at the minute, and D2 isn't exactly the worlds most popular game.
Given what they've produced up to this point, I personally wouldn't be bothered anyway.
@XurAgentofthe9 Destiny 2 appears to be profitable enough for them to be able to buy themselves out of Activision and continue to function.
It’s top 20 on Steam and has an active user base on consoles. Plus they have a new expansion coming out in November.
I’m guessing Destiny 3 will be their next big thing (at some point). But in January it was said they were also working on a new IP, not too dissimilar to Destiny/Halo. So we will see.
@JohnnyShoulder very cool avatar, my friend 😉
@Noob_Saibot
“Sony's Worldwide studios as we know today are tough, but not tough enough to challenge the richest company in the world if it manages to acquire very talented studios in the near future !”
BREAKING NEWS!!! Apple to jump in video game console and game development company acquisition markets!
@lacerz But what would Bungie provide that they don't already have? They've got Halo, and a studio built to make Halo, and Bungie have moved on from that franchise long ago. If Microsoft acquired them, they'd own Destiny, giving them two sci-fi FPS games with a live-service multiplayer focus. It's entirely redundant.
@clvr Cool beans, glad there is someone else who can join our Unofficial Tony Kebbell Appreciation Society That He Needs A Break In A Film That Isn't A Flop.
People saying it doesn’t make sense for Bungie don’t know the state of their financials - for all we know they are burning through cash and Destiny isn’t making enough money. Stranger things have happened even though it didn’t happen. Interesting that the articles put forward that Bungie were too expensive.
@Noob_Saibot - explain then, why "the richest company" has fallen on their collective faces for the entire 18 years they've been in the console market. i have no clue why you think MS is a threat - this gen has been a disaster for them.
@Noob_Saibot
I feel you need some correction there. While Microsoft have billions upon billions, that is not accessible by the Xbox division. The Xbox division is given a budget by Microsoft Corporation to work with in a limited capacity and according to Wall Street that budget is actually less than the one that Sony allocates to the PlayStation division.
It amazes me that so many people think that the Xbox team have access to the full funds at Microsoft to do as they please.
@eddie429 because Microsoft could buy Sony in its entirety at over a 75 percent premium with just their cash on hand if they wanted to. Literally.
Even if I think the OP's assertion that Microsoft buying studios would/could push them past Sony overnight in terms of first party games is utterly ridiculous (they seem to be forgetting it's not just Sony's studios that have value, but the IP they and Sony have spent the better part of the past two decades building/establishing and which it will almost certainly take Microsoft time to do the same short of buying several well established studios with large catalogues of IP, a scenario that does not seem realistic), we shouldn't ignore the fact that Microsoft will likely always have resources at their disposal that Sony will not (edit: though as the post prior to mine points out, that would require Microsoft choosing to devote them to gaming).
@Kienda Ok, thanks. I never really liked D2, although I was a long time D1 player, so I assumed (wrongly by the sound of it) that it wasn't that popular. Would be interesting to know what else they are working on though. Lotta people I know stopped playing D2 when they started resetting progress each season. I certainly wouldn't go back to it whilst that particular policy is in place; the whole point of live service games for me is permanent progress
@MJ - your comment is LITERALLY, one of the most foolish statements i've heard in a while. i can't believe you even took the time to post it.
@Noob_Saibot - the only 3rd party devs MS could get that i think would be a big loss for sony (in terms of 3rd party games) would be techland, Bethesda, or Fromsoft. the ones you mentioned aren't that big of a deal. i do see the point you're trying to make, but i remember when MS bought Rare and i thought that was a HUGE deal - and Rare hasn't been anywhere close to as good a dev house as they were when they were making nintendo games.....so, just buying up devs isn't everything.
@XurAgentofthe9 yeah, I was all in on D1 and when D2 dropped it was great for the first few months and then I hit a brick wall with little content to do and I lost my enjoyment. Friends stopped playing and so did I.
I came back to it a few weeks ago though and after two years away I am having the time of my life with it (which was unexpected).
I don’t mind the resets as long as I keep the achievements and items and things. But I’m not sure how I will feel experiencing it first hand with the next expansion. I’m assuming it will be similar to WoW, which never bothered me.
@Kienda I might give it another look at some point then, although I'm gonna be a fair way behind on the expansions, lol. I have a few other games I want to get through first though. The one thing I do miss, and Bungie really nailed, is the combat mechanic; very satisfying
@XurAgentofthe9 yeah, the gunplay is amazing. That’s why I like it. Along with the world, music and so forth. I enjoy the gameplay and mission loop.
@clvr The Toby Kebbell Appreciation Society welcomes your approval.
@nessisonett lol thanks 😂
Would be a total waste of money. Bungie today isn't the same great studio it was when MS originally owned it.
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