Games as a service have become an important piece for the future of PlayStation despite recent failures with Concord. When Sony acquired Bungie, many players automatically thought that the company wanted to obtain recurring revenue in this type of games, which, thanks to microtransactions, expansions, or even subscriptions, provide a large amount of money. Bungie, with its experience in Destiny, represents an important asset for the company to expand in this field.
In this sense, what has happened in recent hours is that Bungie has started to integrate its creative team into PlayStation Studios. Bridget O’Neil, the leader of Bungie Creative Studios, has confirmed through LinkedIn that her team will move to Sony’s ranks, focusing on games as a service and continuing to work on Destiny 2 and Marathon, a title that should be released at some point in 2025.
“The games as a service market is tough and poses a series of unique challenges, so with PlayStation and Bungie working together, we can give a great boost to the development of new games when they enter this super competitive market,” she says. This move was already expected when 220 employees were laid off from Bungie and a restructuring was initiated within the studio.
That’s why 155 Bungie employees will gradually integrate into SIE, ensuring PlayStation’s ability to develop and manage new service titles. The departments affected, according to The Game Post, are marketing, human resources, art, and production. Other Bungie creatives who have made the leap to SIE include Adam Glogowe, Director of Rewards at Bungie, and Joseph Biwald, marketing art director, who will work in both studios.
What does this merger between Sony and Bungie mean?
While Bungie will continue to operate as an independent entity, Sony will take on a more active role, as evidenced by the transfer of creatives and employees to PlayStation Studios and SIE. Many of them will continue to collaborate with both Bungie and Sony in a kind of dual role, but in essence, this move means that from now on, “support will be given to all PlayStation service games,” as O’Neil pointed out. In practice, this could mean assisting other PlayStation studios with their upcoming service games.
“This opportunity to share our experience working on Bungie titles with other studios that are developing live service games is very exciting.” The collaboration between both companies seems aimed at tackling the challenges faced by this type of games, whether by maintaining servers or creating engaging content to retain and attract new players. A new era begins within Sony, which will not neglect single-player games and will continue in this market.
The integration of Bungie into PlayStation Studios could represent a turning point in Sony’s strategy, although it is still early to draw conclusions. By combining Bungie’s experience with the resources that PlayStation can offer, everything points to Sony’s plan in this market positioning itself in a very competitive market dominated by offerings like Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Warzone, and many more. At the moment, we know that the next Destiny game will be released on mobile, although a PC release is not ruled out with sufficient support.
Various reports suggest that Marathon could be released at 40 euros.
The Destiny saga is taking shape, Marathon is slowly cooking with external tests indicating that the FPS is already playable, but what about the other Sony service games? For over a year, it has been known that PlayStation planned 12 service games, but some of them have not ended well, like Concord, The Last of Us Online, Deviation Games’ IP, or London Studios’ fantasy game.
Although there are likely some unannounced service projects, it is known that Guerrilla Games’ next game is the Horizon MMO and Haven Studios is working on a service game for PS5 called Fairgame$. It is an open-world PvP shooter directed by Jade Raymond, the creator of Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs, which is progressing as planned according to the latest information.
In summary, the integration of Bungie into PlayStation Studios represents a strategic step for both companies in the service games sector. While Bungie maintains its operational independence, numerous creatives and developers will help drive this area where Sony has only succeeded with a Helldivers 2 that has sold 12 million copies. If time proves PlayStation right, then it will have further consolidated its market position.
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