A wacky, $3.6 billion end to gaming-acquisition January: Sony buys Bungie ~ USA Latest Games

Well, we didn't necessarily see this one coming.

After Microsoft's megaton acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, a lot of talk turned to how Sony and its PlayStation division would deal with the fallout. Might Sony miss out on a megaton first-person shooter franchise, should Xbox become an exclusive home to Call of Duty games? Would Sony fire back with a major acquisition of its own?

On Monday, Sony appeared to blast two Cabal soldiers with one monetary stone, as it announced plans to acquire Bungie and its Destiny series of shooters in a deal reportedly valued at $3.6 billion. (In an email to Ars Technica, a Sony rep declined to confirm that figure.) Somehow, this pricey deal includes a firm pledge from Bungie, despite its new corporate overlords: Bungie's "future games" will not become PlayStation exclusives.

Bungie had clearly prepared to announce this news to its active, current Destiny 2 userbase, which plays on a variety of non-PlayStation platforms like Steam, Google Stadia, and (of course) Xbox. Its Destiny 2-specific FAQ confirms that the game's current content map is set until at least 2024, when a project dubbed "The Final Shape" launches, and all planned content will continue to work cross-platform without any PlayStation "console exclusive" forks or DLC.

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