Report: Sony Could Take Full Control of Bungie if It Fails to Meet Financial Targets - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 January 2024 / 3,985 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment completed its acquisition of Destiny developer Bungie in July 2022. Bungie at the time stated it would "continue to independently publish and creatively develop" their games with its own board of directors.
Bungie could be under threat at losing its independence, according to multiple sources who spoke with IGN.
The sources claim they were told by leaders that the current split board structure could be dissolved by Sony if Bungie fails to meet certain financial thresholds by too great an amount. Sony would then be able to take full control of the developer.
Bungie has been struggling recently as the studio was recently hit with layoffs. It was reported by eight percent of Bungie or about 100 employees were laid off due to a drop off in the popularity of Destiny 2. Executives at the developer at a meeting told employees revenue was 45 percent below projections for the year, according to multiple sources.
Bungie could be facing more layoffs in the future if The Final Shape expansion underperforms.
"We know we need Final Shape to do well," said the source. "And the feeling at the studio is that if it doesn’t we’re definitely looking at more layoffs."
The Final Shape expansion for Destiny 2 was recently delayed from February 27, 2024 release date to June 4, 2024.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I will look forward to a single player game in the future then.
Damn, full circle again.
You could say it was their 'Destiny' :)
perfect!!!
If you cant run your own studio well..... and the choice is sony people takeing over management, or crashing and burning.... why not? Honestly it seems like bungie wants alot of things, but isnt really great at being on their own.
They’ve been relying on a single IP for years despite their size. Putting all their eggs in the same basket isn’t a sound way of doing thing, They really need to reevaluate the way they handle the creative side of their business and let their creators show what the studio is made of.
Interesting news. Wish they had stuck with halo
If this is true, in means that Sony and Bungie either (essentially) lied to everyone, or Sony screwed Bungie. They both made a very big deal out of how Bungie would remain independent of Sony. If they then lose that independence a year and a half or two years later because of underperformance of one or two expansions of their game, there was never any real independence to start with.
You can't actually be independent if all it takes is Sony to change their mind and then decide that you're not independent anymore. That's just a hands-off management style that they decided to change. Independence would have to mean, and I think we all thought that it meant, that the acquisition deal was structured in such a way that Sony would not be able to dictate this kind of stuff to Bungie, at least outside of some very extreme circumstances.
Where is the so caled "GAAS expertise"? Bungie is imploding, Sony needs to step in.
No amount of expertise makes a business impervious to changes.
Apparently it was Bungie's Chief PEOPLE Officer, Holly Barbacovi that said there will be more layoffs if The Final Shape doesn't do well.......jesus. Not exactly something you want to hear from someone with that kind of title. Bungie must've been at an all time high when they agreed to be purchased under these conditions. Now it's like they're fighting off a hostile takeover.
I feel terrible for the devs. With such drastic measures being taken including a company wide hiring freeze and no holiday bonuses, I wouldn't be surprised if devs at Bungie are looking to work elsewhere.
Well, there is no free money. So when you accept over 3B there will strings attached and if it is "if you don't do a good management yourself them we will manage it" seems reasonable.
Usually the Board will replace leadership in instances of leadership failing the company. Not a complete takeover.
Still, Bungie has a history of terrible leadership and it's all primarily the same people still running everything, so it may be for the betterment of the company if Sony did fully takeover.
You keeping that same logic when MS act similar to underpreforming studios?
Dont feel bad for them. They made their own bed. Not ever bussiness venture is successfull, and not everyone is great at "going at it alone". Which is why sony now owns them, they couldn't stand on their own. This is just the nature of bussiness. Haveing sony come in and right a ship, is better than letting it sink.
Sony needs to step in and get the rotten apples that only tjink about filling their pockets out.
Could it be that the golden age of MMO games is on the decline? Oh please, let it be so. Or maybe there's only room for a couple of them at the same time.
Basically 100% chance of full Sony control at this point, Final Shape will most likely do decent but not THAT good enough to overcome the losses already there. Perhaps then Sony can make Bungie fully exclusive to draw more players to the console.
And the big guys on top (leaders in bungie) would rather fire people, than take a slight pay cut.
After a total Sony takeover, they'll just clean house with the leadership team. Hire their own people.
Further proof MS cannot manage their studios...
I’m presuming that was a sarcastic comment referring to the responses to Microsoft’s actions in similar situations, and as a former owner of Bungie.
If they don't deliver next year, Sony is just doing damage control and taking care of its asset unlike Microsoft not getting hands on with Bethesda and arkane studios
Destiny has Always been a poor game, and now getting worse with inferior trouble riddled DLC, now on top of financial trouble. Sony should take them over because it's a desperate situation. If that happens kiss goodbye multi-plat titles after Sony takes them over. But if it means that's better for Bungie then so be it.
