From The Verge: Sony’s surprise acquisition of Bungie earlier this week for $3.6 billion was about a lot more than just Destiny. In an investor call today, Sony has revealed it plans to launch more than 10 new live service games by March 2026. That’s a hugely ambitious plan, and marks a major expansion for Sony’s PlayStation games beyond its traditional console exclusives.
“The strategic significance of this acquisition lies not only in obtaining the highly successful Destiny franchise, as well as major new IP Bungie is currently developing, but also incorporating into the Sony group the expertise and technologies Bungie has developed in the live game services space,” says Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki. “Through close collaboration between Bungie and PlayStation Studios we aim to launch more than 10 live service games by the fiscal year ending March 2026.”
It was clear that Sony’s Bungie acquisition was all about competing with Fortnite, but now those ambitions look even broader. Bungie’s next IP, codenamed Matter, is rumored to be a “multiplayer action game” with “character-based” gameplay. Bungie said last year that its next IP will launch before 2025. But that’s just one game out of the 10, and Eurogamer points out that there are signs of many more in the works. Last of Us developer Naughty Dog has been building a multiplayer game for years, and Horizon Zero Dawn developer Guerrilla has hired for roles related to online games. PlayStation’s London Studio is also working on a new PS5 online game.
Sony has lacked its own live service games, with Microsoft owning Minecraft and Sea of Thieves, and Epic Games dominating with Fortnite’s runaway success. Destiny and Bungie’s technology could very well set Sony up for a successful push into this key part of the gaming market.
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