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SIE Buying Bungie Was A Mistake

squallheart

Member
my god I can't believe they actually posted that to millions of people, that's.. embarrassing. And I love that it has a community note attached to it xD
Stuff like that annoys me like who are they to dictate my culture and change our way of speaking. Same thing with insomniac and naughty dog they have been going down the same route dei or whatever that's called.
 
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Go_Ly_Dow

Member
I always saw the Bungie purchase as a HUGE gamble. They just have a single popular IP with Destiny, but it's just one IP that has been replaced now. So you spend $3.6bil on them and what if there next game simply fails to take off? We see it time and time again with GAAS. That would be billions pissed down the drain for a corporation that isn't cash rich and has thin margins already. Bungie's value would also absolutely plummit in this scenario as they have nothing to fall back on. So it's a gamble and a unncessecary one at that.

At least if you're buying a Capcom or Square-Enix they're not one trick pony's and they have multiple large IPs to fall back on and also a history of rejuvinating and keeping alive their franchises for many decades.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I always saw the Bungie purchase as a HUGE gamble. They really have a single popular IP with Destiny, but it's just one IP that hasn't stood the test of time. So you spend $3.6bil on them and what if there next game simply fails to take off? We see it time and time again with GAAS. The billions pissed down the drain for a corporation that isn't cash rich and has thin margins already. Bungie's value would also absolutely plummit in this scenario as they have nothing to fall back on.

At least if you're buying a Capcom of Square they're not one trick pony's and they have multiple large IPs to fall back on and also a history of rejuvinating and keeping alive their franchises for many decades.
Buying bungie for $3.6 billion had 3 key pillars attached to it.

1. Destiny

2. Their GAAS expertise was supposed to help Sonys first party studios make good games

3. Having the points above helps curb MS getting COD and possibly rebuying Bungie again later on. Bungie was the only independent studio around with a big shooter getting top 10 online shooter users kind of thing.

As to whether they’ve been a success and worth it or a failure is subjective but currently going by what’s known…. Game delays and they missed Destiny forecasts by 45% with their latest dlc and its need bad so far.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
That was a 1-in-10000000 takeover tho.

Studio that is hyper familiar with the publisher and worked with them for over 2 decades.
Oh, that's how most of Sony's major acquisitions pre-Bungie worked.
They deviated a few times, like with Gaikai back in 2013, I believe. But generally they've only bought teams that they have some history with.
 
Bethesda is proof to me that Microsoft has NO CLUE how to leverage their IPs. They should have had an up and coming studio working on Fallout 3/New Vegas remasters, bringing back older ID ips like Quake. These didn't need to be big AAA games, smaller in scope AA games with an old school feel. Microsoft had TONS of potential to leverage these new IPs, but squandered them. Indiana Jones is the next game coming from Bethesda and that is from a studio who has been 5+ years of putting out anything good.
No disagreement from me, but it's still pretty early in the acquisition and the nature of development takes time. I'm hopeful that we'll see Obsidian get the Fallout i.p. back so we can have another great entry in the franchise.

My point was more that now MSFT is sitting on a huge library of amazing i.p's and the future has a lot of potential, where as you compare to what Sony has with Bungie. Bungie really needs to pull another Halo out of the hat and I'm not sure they have that in them. I certainly haven't thought of Destiny since Destiny 2's release, and I felt that was a bit of a disappointment. I'm sure they have some die-hard fans, obviously, because the franchise is still going, but it's not one anyone I know is interested in. For what they paid for Bungie, it definitely seems like Sony got the short-end of the stick on that one.
 
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danklord

Gold Member
It always felt like a short-sided move to appease board members and investors, especially since Xbox / Activation was dominating headlines at the time. The upside, if Sony can make it there, is whatever Bungie is up to after Destiny 2. Not a big believer in Marathon but will definitely keep my eye on it.

They really should make Destiny 2 + Expansions free to all PS Plus members to increase hype for The Final Shape. Pre-Orders on that are looking particularly grim, and it's supposed to be the finale to the whole saga!
 
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clarky

Gold Member
It was a pretty foolish acquisition by Sony. Microsoft's makes more sense in that ActiBlizz comes with a huge back library and i.p.'s that have a ton of future potential. Bungie came with Destiny 2 and Marathon, both series that are well past their primes.


Marathon is a completly different title to previous entries, let see what its all about before writing it off.

Hopefully its as good as the trailer, that shit was awesome.
 

Nydius

Member
I absolutely agree with your opinion, Jose92 Jose92 . Jim Ryan bought Bungie primarily to expedite PlayStation Studios' GaaS push but that never made sense to me because Destiny 1 and 2 had a very checkered past. They had just as many fuck-ups as successes and had pleased and pissed off fans in equal measure. Bungie's track record with Destiny hasn't been great for the last few years and they had already gotten a reputation as greedy money grabbers with their monetization systems before Sony bought them.

Now the GaaS push is clearly being rethought and significantly curtailed.

Bungie feels like deadweight pushing an aging game that is on the decline and hoping their reboot of Marathon can break into a crowded market.
 
Does the opening post read like a chatgpt output to anyone else?
Chat GPT answer:
...However, the language and structure of the text suggest that it could have been generated by an individual rather than an AI language model like ChatGPT. The text demonstrates a nuanced understanding of industry events and expresses a coherent opinion on the matter, which aligns more closely with human-written content.

i will choose to believe it was still written by a bot.
 
I can understand the decision to acquire a huge GaaS shooter (given that COD was going to be in MS's hands) but in hindsight, it's pretty obvious that these guys soon will be invited to embark on a new exciting career path.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
I still have faith in Destiny/Bungie. I won't be returning to it but the game just never dies, and the new expansion will prove nothing less.

However Destiny 2 New expansion has only 25% of Pre-Order compared to Lightfall (best expansion launch ever for Destiny) and WARFRAME is literally charting twice as many players compared to Destiny 2 for over a month now, which it has never done in the past ever.

The Next expansion has to be its best yet, or Sony's TV show tie ups and whatnot are dead.
 
Maybe. If their new game comes out and blows up this whole thread will look stupid. Look at Hell Divers 2. No one would have thought it would be much of anything to talk about. Destiny still has some of the best gunplay out there. If they can bring that to Marathon and surround it with a compelling game it could turn out very well for Bungie.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
No disagreement from me, but it's still pretty early in the acquisition and the nature of development takes time. I'm hopeful that we'll see Obsidian get the Fallout i.p. back so we can have another great entry in the franchise.

My point was more that now MSFT is sitting on a huge library of amazing i.p's and the future has a lot of potential, where as you compare to what Sony has with Bungie. Bungie really needs to pull another Halo out of the hat and I'm not sure they have that in them. I certainly haven't thought of Destiny since Destiny 2's release, and I felt that was a bit of a disappointment. I'm sure they have some die-hard fans, obviously, because the franchise is still going, but it's not one anyone I know is interested in. For what they paid for Bungie, it definitely seems like Sony got the short-end of the stick on that one.
It’s been over 3 years. MS should have had a lot of smaller projects in the pipeline. Many little things could have come out right now. Quake and Quake 2 remasters from Nightdive are the best things to come from that acquisition.
 

Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
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Raven117

Member
I still have faith in Destiny/Bungie. I won't be returning to it but the game just never dies, and the new expansion will prove nothing less.

However Destiny 2 New expansion has only 25% of Pre-Order compared to Lightfall (best expansion launch ever for Destiny) and WARFRAME is literally charting twice as many players compared to Destiny 2 for over a month now, which it has never done in the past ever.

The Next expansion has to be its best yet, or Sony's TV show tie ups and whatnot are dead.
Because lightfall effing sucked. That simple. I’ve played destiny since day 1, but I can’t be bothered anymore. Too many times they took a dump on their player base saying it was good and they were listening.
 

gothmog

Gold Member
Sony will be fine. Bungie will be fine. Final Shape will sell well as long as Bungie does their usual launch fanfare. If the reveal sucks then get worried.
 

LordCBH

Member
I still have faith in Destiny/Bungie. I won't be returning to it but the game just never dies, and the new expansion will prove nothing less.

However Destiny 2 New expansion has only 25% of Pre-Order compared to Lightfall (best expansion launch ever for Destiny) and WARFRAME is literally charting twice as many players compared to Destiny 2 for over a month now, which it has never done in the past ever.

The Next expansion has to be its best yet, or Sony's TV show tie ups and whatnot are dead.

If The Final Shape is anywhere near as fucking bad as Lightfall was, then the games done. It was one of the worst expansion packs of all time.
 

//DEVIL//

Member
I dont consider buying one of the best FPS devs out there is a mistake

Destiny and Halo before it, has some of the best FPS games. even Story telling, Music, maps . they all are more than great and they excel is that field.

Problem is expectations and greed. when your game become micro transactions heavy, its dead. especially when you are actually paying for the game it self and not free to play.

Greed is what is killing the industry. and hiring staff that does not belong to the team. just for the sake of diversity, color or equality and not based on skills and knowledge.

they keep trying to feed us its expensive and more complicated now to make a game... maybe to a point but no.. its really not. its expensive because of the useless staff you have.
 

Gojiira

Member
I think people forget just how quickly things change in the modern world. Bungie was the right purchase AT THE TIME. Back when they were more or less the leading studio for GaaS. But times change.
Personally I think they should have bought Squeenix,Capcom and Kadokawa since they would fill holes in PS’ lineup but yeah
 

NEbeast

Member
Are we just going to ignore the massive inflation since covid? These layoffs aren't all because of acquisitions, if they were it wouldn't be happening across the industry. Everyone ballooned during covid and now they're having to pull back due to increaed costs and bloated workforces.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Sony had confirmed that they started talking to Bungie for an acquisition in May 2020, 4 months before Microsoft announced Zenimax's acquisition.

It was not a reactionary move at all. Sony had plans for live-service games, and that's why they wanted Bungie.
And I'm sure MS started talking to Bethesda way before it was announced in Sept 2020. If youre going to give Sony the benefit of claiming they were in talks almost two years before announcing it in Jan 31, 2022, then MS and Bethesda surely did it too.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Im sure Destiny is paying for itself. And the games will bring in money too.
And pretty sure MS was buy them anyway, so Sony had to
 

Beechos

Member
Ehh growth is growth whether its organic or inorganic. People preach like organic growth and development is 100% recipe for success and purchasing dev/ip always ends up in failure. Theres risks and rewards both ways.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Ehh growth is growth whether its organic or inorganic. People preach like organic growth and development is 100% recipe for success and purchasing dev/ip always ends up in failure. Theres risks and rewards both ways.
Tech industries are all about growth. Doesn't matter if it's gaming, social media or Roku players. If you dont have big growth %, youre not really a tech company anymore. And once that reality sets in, the stock price will plummet saying goodbye to a PE ratio of 80. They'll join the 100 year old stodgy companies where growing at 3% is considered great.
 
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Sony should just get take 2 with there ips. Red dead , bully , LA Noire , bioshock , Mafia , xcom etc. CoD was making sony money that helped with development but now that's pretty much out the window Take 2 would be a wise Purchase that would sell alot of consoles aswell and bringing in money
 

midnightAI

Member
I think Sony just need to interfere with the management of Bungie. I'd have them split into two teams, one larger team servicing the GaaS side of things (Marathon), the other a smaller team working on a single player FPS, utilise the knowledge gained when making Halo, perhaps even have it set in the Destiny universe (seeing as loads of assets are already done they can just enhance those)

I don't think the purchase of Bungie was a bad thing at all (these layoffs are nothing to do with Bungie, this is about future profitability and sustainability). Heck, Destiny is still huge, if (when?) they inevitably make Destiny 3 it would be a massive money maker.
 
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Honestly I disagree, it was a good catch by Sony, the challenge will be how to manage Bungie properly since as others already stated, Bungie act as if they want to be independent but always under the umbrella of a big company.

By the way, if people are regretting of this acquisition which was $3.6bn, then how some of these people believe Sony can acquire bigger companies such as Square, Capcom or even From?
 

jm89

Member
Let's see what happens with marathon and whatever else new they have coming. If they can't do anything big this gen other then destiny 2 stuff, then yeah this shit was a mistake.

Bungie will be under serious pressure to keep bringing in the cash, iirc sony can dissolve the bungie board and take over if their revenue drops to a certain amount or something like that, can't remember the exact conditions.
 
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