Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has said the company’s planned acquisition of Bungie is partly motivated by a desire for PlayStation to become more of a multiplatform business.
WhileSony Interactive Entertainment(SIE) has traditionally focused on developing games forPlayStationconsoles, in recent years it has also begun investing heavily inPCand mobile gaming.
Last year SIE CEOJim RyanconfirmedPlayStation would bring “a whole slate” of games to PC, and the companyhired Apple Arcade’s former content bossto lead a new business unit established toadapt its “most popular franchises” for mobile.
Sony announced in January that it intends topurchase Halo and Destiny creator Bungie in a deal worth $3.6 billion.
It said at the time thatBungiewill be “an independent subsidiary” and remain a multiplatform studio following the acquisition.
Speaking during a corporate strategy meeting on Wednesday, Sony boss Yoshida said the company has “high expectations” for Bungie.
“We believe it will be a catalyst to enhance ourlive game services capabilities,” he said. “Our acquisition of Bungie also represents a major step forward in becoming more multiplatform.”
At the time of the deal’s announcement, Bungie also said existing and future games currently in developmentwill not be exclusive to PlayStation platformsfollowing the acquisition.
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Whether or not Sony’s multiplatform strategy will extend to the company releasing some first-party games on rival console platforms likeXbox Series X/Sremains to be seen.
It was announced in January thatMicrosoftintends topurchase Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion dealthat would give theXboxmaker exclusive ownership of franchisesincluding Call of Duty, Warcraft, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot and Guitar Hero.
Should the deal gain regulatory approval, Microsoft has said it will continue to releaseActivision Blizzardgames,including Call of Duty titles, for PlayStation consolesfollowing the acquisition and beyond existing contractual agreements, and that it wants to make more of the publisher’s gamesavailable to Nintendo players too.
