Sony got caught on multiple fronts when they bought them at the beginning of 2022.
- Chasing Bungie because MS got Activision
- Paying an absurd price of 3.6B. This isnt hindsight 20/20 because tons of people thought the same. There werent too many forum posters saying $3.6B was a steal
- Super low interest rates at the time (banks didn't start increasing rates till Feb or March 2022)
- Destiny 2 was probably pulling in much better numbers. This was before they sunk last year laying off people and forecasts down 45%
- Sony was right in the middle with their huge GAAS strategy (those PPT slides). Since then, H2 was a giant success, but the cut back on GAAS, Destiny 2 has sunk and cancelled projects, and Concord is about to bomb. And anything Bungie has in the works would add to it since those slides excluded Bungie
- As for any Bungie execs scamming Sony, maybe they did, maybe they didnt. But no doubt Sony buying Bungie was like someone getting unlucky buying a stock right at the peak and got burned. The next day it drops big and continues to. it gets to a point every investor holds on for dear life it rebounds. Or you start selling some for a loss here and there gutting it (layoffs)