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Sony has confirmed plans to absorb Bungie into PlayStation Studios.
Sony CFO Lin Tao explained this in a Q&A in their latest financial meeting:
About the governance of Bungie, at the time of acquisition we were offering a very independent environment, so that was one way of thinking.
However, thereafter, we have gone through structural reform, as we announced last year, so this independence is getting lighter, and Bungie is shifting into a role which is becoming more part of PlayStation Studios, and integration is proceeding.
So in the long term, if you can see this as an ongoing process, the direction [for Bungie] is to become part of PlayStation Studios.
We Knew This Was Happening – But Hearing It Is Still A Shock
We already knew that Bungie was going through big changes since last year. Last July 2024, Bungie underwent a large scale restructuring. Two-thirds of employees were leaving the studio. 17 percent of the entire workforce was unfortunately let go. The remainder were sent to other divisions in PlayStation. We know that some went to one team that is now working on the unannounced project codenamed Gummi Bears.
Fans had been gossiping about the behind the scenes for Bungie for months. But this restructuring was so visible that Sony’s Hiroki Totoki explained it in a financial meeting last year. At that time, Totoki was acting chairman of PlayStation. Today, he is CEO of PlayStation’s parent company, Sony Group.
What The Rumor Mill Told Us
There was a rumor that Sony could take over Bungie as far back as 2023. We already knew then that Bungie’s contract with Sony guaranteed they could run independently as long as they met their financial goals.
In March 2024, another rumor revealed that Sony already considered their Bungie investment a failure. This time, we learned that PlayStation’s US division was just waiting for Bungie executives to leave. It’s unclear if they were to retire on their own or if they would be fired. But they were allegedly doing everything they could to avoid even talking to PlayStation management, including skipping meetings.
By August 2024, Jeff Grubb claimed Sony finally pinned Bungie executives down. At this time, Sony started replacing Bungie’s management with their people.
So, you may not have known or remembered all this drama. But if all these rumors were true, Bungie’s management made 2024 harder than it had to be both for their developers and for Sony.
One could criticize Sony for taking on this bad deal. But Bungie management deserves criticism for letting things turn out this badly. This came at the expense of their own developers. Now, our best hope is for Sony to become better bosses to Bungie than how their original bosses were.
