Support NeoGAF

[Draugoth]

The entire Creative Studios team joined PlayStation earlier this year, and now another major shift has been confirmed: Bungie’s Strategic Partnerships team is officially part of PlayStation’s Franchise Development and Portfolio Strategy division.

These changes come at a tough time for Bungie. After the second round of layoffs earlier this year, the studio has been working to align more closely with Sony’s goals for live-service games. Bungie remains committed to its projects, including Destiny 2 and the upcoming extraction shooter Marathon.

Source

 

[Magic Carpet]

Sluggish, like a wet sponge.

 

[CLW]

This was a TERRIBLE investment by Sony how many Concords worth?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

 

[Evolved1]

I will hate bungie until the end of time.

 

[gothmog]

Sounds like the right move given how dysfunctional Bungie has been over the past few years.

 

[SweetTooth]

Good, So sony can control this train wreck

 

[LordOcidax]

Looks like GAAS still their main strategy.

 

[Xtib81]

Worst acquisition ever.

 

[Danjin44]

 

[EN250]

sunk-cost fallacy

waste of everyone's time and in Sony's case, a lot of money burned

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Too much Bungie will make anyone sick. Time to purge the sickness.

 

[IFireflyl]

I can't believe that I bought into their lies about Bungie retaining its independence. This is why corporations suck.

Well, well, well. Apparently my previous comment about Sony lieing regarding Bungie retaining its independence is incorrect. Apparently part of that agreement included meeting financial goals that Bungie has not been meeting. So this one is on Bungie, not on Sony.

Report: Bungie Will Lose Independence Within Sony If Destiny 2 Fails Financial Goals

Morale has apparently cratered at the beloved studio as the threat of more layoffs looms

kotaku.com

 

[ResilientBanana]

Microsoft would have completely dissolved them by now.

 

[nial]

Good.

 

[saintjules]

Mmm...absorb.

 

[LectureMaster]

How does shit taste?
Sony:

 

[Crystal Winters]

I have never played a game made by bungie, so is this a good or bad thing? do they make good single player games?

 

[nial]

I can't believe that I bought into their lies about Bungie retaining its independence. This is why corporations suck.

It was not a lie, Bungie fucked everything up and in consequence, Sony will be planning to integrate them into PlayStation Studios in the following years if things keep going this way.
Good reminder that SIE isn't exactly involved in the production of Marathon and it's still all for Bungie to figure out.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

I have never played a game made by bungie, so is this a good or bad thing? do they make good single player games?

 

[Crystal Winters]

Dear Mr. President Elect, is that a yes, or no? God bless ya, 47.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

It was not a lie, Bungie fucked everything up and in consequence, Sony will be planning to integrate them into PlayStation Studios in the following years if things keep going this way.
Good reminder that SIE isn't exactly involved in the production of Marathon and it's still all for Bungie to figure out.

This. Sony bought them to make them money and Bungie was given fucked it up.

Like, is Sony supposed to just let them continue to waste money? If anything they should be full integrated and lose all of their independence if you ask me. Modern Bungie fucking sucks. This isn't the Bungie that gave us back to back to back to back to back masterpieces.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Marathon will send some people to the looney bin.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I can't believe that I bought into their lies about Bungie retaining its independence. This is why corporations suck.

Do you think that Sony always secretly wanted to micromanage and eventually absorb Bungie? Or that Bungie would still be kicking ass if only Sony stopped their meddling?

They’re doing this because Bungie is a bloated adult daycare organization that is incapable of managing itself.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Dear Mr. President Elect, is that a yes, or no? God bless ya, 47.

Stay far away from Bungie's GaaS fuckery. You can thank me later.

 

[Perrott]

This. Sony bought them to make them money and Bungie was given fucked it up.

Like, is Sony supposed to just let them continue to waste money? If anything they should be full integrated and lose all of their independence if you ask me. Modern Bungie fucking sucks. This isn't the Bungie that gave us back to back to back to back to back masterpieces.

Well, Bungie has historically been run like shit. Remember the Halo 2 debacle and how the game had to be rebuilt from scratch over the last stretch of development due to poor planning and unreasonable ambitions. Remember how Bungie's board of directors unilaterally scrapped Joseph Staten's entire Destiny 1 story - which had already been shot, had VO recorded, art assets finalized and levels mapped out - just months ahead of the game's original release date just because they didn't feel a three-minute video summary of the plot; only to end up shipping an incoherent mess of a narrative way behind schedule.

The only difference between current Bungie to the state of the company ten, twenty years ago is that back then games could be made over a period of one to three years by much smaller teams, meaning that the real ramifications of any fuck up had a limited impact on the overall project and schedule, since entire aspects of a came could be reengineered from zero in a matter of months. That's not the state of affairs in modern game development anymore, and why they've had to shelve several high-profile projects behind the scenes.

 

[Ar¢tos]

This. Sony bought them to make them money and Bungie was given fucked it up.

Like, is Sony supposed to just let them continue to waste money? If anything they should be full integrated and lose all of their independence if you ask me. Modern Bungie fucking sucks. This isn't the Bungie that gave us back to back to back to back to back masterpieces.

Eh it was expected. When you buy sloppy thirds from MS and Activision you get what you paid for.

 

[Insanemaelstrom]

All the execs at playstation who pushed for this acquisition must have already left or are looking for a new job. I refused to believe that heads didn't roll for such an awful acquisition

 

[mckmas8808]

I can't believe that I bought into their lies about Bungie retaining its independence. This is why corporations suck.

Bungie failed with their independence.

 

[Golgo 13]

Dear Mr. President Elect, is that a yes, or no? God bless ya, 47.

Bungie is a multiplayer/GaaS studio now, no investment in Single Player games whatsoever. Long ago they created the Halo Series and made Halo 1, 2, and 3 for Microsoft. That's the last time we saw any true single player output from them (17 years ago). Nowadays, they're known for shady microtransactions, milking their players wallets and patience, and overall being a huge disappointment to the people who loved them in the Halo/Early Destiny 1 days. Oh, and did I mention being insufferably, obnoxiously woke? Disastrous purchase decision from Sony.

 

[Crystal Winters]

Bungie is a multiplayer/GaaS studio now, no investment in Single Player games whatsoever. Long ago they created the Halo Series and made Halo 1, 2, and 3 for Microsoft. That's the last time we saw any true single player output from them (17 years ago). Nowadays, they're known for shady microtransactions, milking their players wallets and patience, and overall being a huge disappointment to the people who loved them in the Halo/Early Destiny 1 days. Oh, and did I mention being insufferably, obnoxiously woke? Disastrous purchase decision from Sony.

Thanks for the warning. Hate to hear all that, but you saved me a lot of trouble.

 

[Tomeru]

I told myaelf the only way to quit destiny was to delete my character and lose eveything I ever aquired.

Cant even do that right. I had three, could delete only 2.

Fuck bungie for ruining one of tge games of all time.

 

[MLSabre]

I can't believe that I bought into their lies about Bungie retaining its independence. This is why corporations suck.

Didn't Sony gave Bungie stipulations regarding their autonomy after the acquisition? That if they didn't reach profitability for a certain length of time, they'd lose their autonomy?

I dunno about you but the fault lies with Bungie in this case.

 

[gothmog]

Bungie is a multiplayer/GaaS studio now, no investment in Single Player games whatsoever. Long ago they created the Halo Series and made Halo 1, 2, and 3 for Microsoft. That's the last time we saw any single player output from them (17 years ago). Nowadays, they're known for shady microtransactions, milking their players wallets and patience, and overall being a huge disappointment to the people who loved them in the Halo/Early Destiny 1 days. Oh, and did I mention being insufferably, obnoxiously woke? Disastrous purchase decision from Sony.

Halo and Destiny are not really single player games, and Bungie has always been best with multiplayer. The only reason Halo got popular was because of the multiplayer and sandbox that came along with it. The first game's campaign was a copy/pasted slog. Sure they got better with the story but the have never been a single player studio.

As far as the purchase I think it's been good for Sony. They've been getting a nice cut for years off the success of Destiny. The purchase deal seemed fair where they would let them be an independent studio as long as they were successful. They failed to meet their target and this is a consequence of that failure. Compare it to 343i where they failed consistently for years and never had any actual consequence. They probably sunk the Halo brand permanently at this point.

I predict Marathon is either well received or cancelled outright. There will be no middle ground. Destiny 3 will be announced before the summer as it's the only thing that will save Bungie itself.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Destiny 2 have the lowest player count in its history now. 3 years I had been playing and now I don't wanna even look at it anymore.

Marathon though will not be a failure. Not a chance in hell. It will be no Marvel Rivals but it maybe can hope to compete with Warframe numbers...for a while.

 

[SkylineRKR]

This was a TERRIBLE investment by Sony how many Concords worth?

They could purchase, like, Kadokawa for this investment.

 

[Fake]

Oh shit, another Concord incoming.

 

[Ogbert]

Destiny 2 have the lowest player count in its history now. 3 years I had been playing and now I don't wanna even look at it anymore.

Marathon though will not be a failure. Not a chance in hell. It will be no Marvel Rivals but it maybe can hope to compete with Warframe numbers...for a while.

Dude, the game is dead.

Couldn’t get a crucible match yesterday. Waited 10 minutes. I know it’s connection based so some of that might be down to my internet, but I’ve never waiting more than 30 seconds before.

 

[SHA]

Back to Halo team, that's the logical answer, they can't control a studio with that size.

 

[Fake]

Worst acquisition ever.

Nothing will ever beat Firewalk Studios acquisition IMO.

 

[SweetTooth]

Worst acquisition ever.

Nah, second to Activision

 

[clarky]

I will hate bungie until the end of time.

Thats like saying you hate the Beatles.

 

[Badlucktroll]

 

[Ogbert]

Brilliant movie.

 

[Unknown?]

Looks like GAAS still their main strategy.

Bungie? When hasn't it been?

 

[IFireflyl]

It was not a lie, Bungie fucked everything up and in consequence, Sony will be planning to integrate them into PlayStation Studios in the following years if things keep going this way.
Good reminder that SIE isn't exactly involved in the production of Marathon and it's still all for Bungie to figure out.

Do you think that Sony always secretly wanted to micromanage and eventually absorb Bungie? Or that Bungie would still be kicking ass if only Sony stopped their meddling?

They’re doing this because Bungie is a bloated adult daycare organization that is incapable of managing itself.

Bungie failed with their independence.

Didn't Sony gave Bungie stipulations regarding their autonomy after the acquisition? That if they didn't reach profitability for a certain length of time, they'd lose their autonomy?

I dunno about you but the fault lies with Bungie in this case.

Thanks for critiquing my post. After your responses I did some digging, and you guys are right. I edited my post to reflect this.

 

[K' Dash]

I have never played a game made by bungie, so is this a good or bad thing? do they make good single player games?

Well, that depends. The Halo games are great. I personally enjoyed Destiny 1.

Everything after that has been a train wreck

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

These useless bums will likely cancel whatever promising project PS Studios has in the pipeline. Hermen Hulst can't help rewarding his Bungie pals after becoming the worst acquisition ever.

 

[T-0800]

Slightly off topic but I've been playing a lot of Destiny 2 lately. Awesome game. That said I wish Bungie would return to making content finished games like Halo 3.

 

[SJRB]

The ROI must be worth it otherwise they wouldn't bother, right?