Sony plans to use Bungie to launch 10 live-service games by March 2026

[jsilva]

In brief: Sony recently held an earnings call covering Q3 2021, unveiling exciting plans to their game portfolio. With the help of the newly acquired Bungie, the Japanese conglomerate plans to launch ten new live service games before March 31, 2026.

When Sony announced it was buying Bungie, many thought about how this developer could help the Japanese company thrive even more in the game industry. Right now, Bungie is still creating content for Destiny 2, and we believe it's also working on a new IP codenamed Matter.

However, it seems Sony's acquisition wasn't just because of Bungie's existing IPs. In its Q3 2021 earnings call, Hiroki Totoki, executive deputy president and CFO at Sony, shared with stakeholders the ambitious plans to use Bungie's expertise to launch ten live-service games within the next four years.

"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," said Totoki.

In the coming years, Bungie will be occupied with much more than the Destiny franchise.

Totoki didn't specify which live-service games the Japanese company is planning to launch, but we have some clues about who's developing them. Besides "Matter" and a possible new entry to the Destiny franchise, we've two multiplayer titles in development at Naughty Dog (The Last of Us and Uncharted franchises) and Guerilla (Horizon series) studios. Moreover, Sony's London Studio (The Getaway, Wonderbook, SingStar, and Blood & Truth) is hiring for a new PS5 online game.

There are more games in development at PlayStation Studios, but we aren't entirely sure if they're online titles or not. Two examples are the Twisted Metal project that Firesprite is reportedly developing and Gran Turismo 7 launching on March 4th. In addition, Deviation Games and Haven Studios are developing new IPs, but it's unclear what type of games these are.

Sony may be a single-player games powerhouse, but it lacks successful live-service games. On the other hand, Microsoft hasn't focused much on AAA single-player titles, but it has Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 5, and Halo Infinite. If you add Activision Blizzard's IP portfolio to the equation, Microsoft's gaming brand seems to be better served in that department.

Masthead credit: Triyansh Gill

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93232-sony-plans-use-bungie-launch-10-live-service.html

 

[Dimitriid]

10 games by 2026 seems like they explicitly want bungie to either turn out mobile gacha type games in quick succession, want crunch that's so bad they'll literally drive at least a few devs to suicide or possibly both this things.

The only possible way this announcement could be any worst is if they said "10 new live games with a strong focus around NFTs powered by a new blockchain that generates it's computational power by burning puppies alive if possible"

 

[pcnthuziast]

Because quality over quantity is an outdated concept.

 

[Aceseven]

10 games by 2026 seems like they explicitly want bungie to either turn out mobile gacha type games in quick succession, want crunch that's so bad they'll literally drive at least a few devs to suicide or possibly both this things.

The only possible way this announcement could be any worst is if they said "10 new live games with a strong focus around NFTs powered by a new blockchain that generates it's computational power by burning puppies alive if possible"

doesnt read like theyre going to work bungie into the dirt with 10 games, seems more like they want their help, probably the tech and other stuff bungie has to help some other devs under the sony umbrella.

sony has dealt with bungie for years so far because of destiny, they must think the tech running it could be beneficial to anchoring these new ideas they have.

I doubt the goal is to make people kill themselves, geez dude.

 

[Dimitriid]

doesnt read like theyre going to work bungie into the dirt with 10 games, seems more like they want their help, probably the tech and other stuff bungie has to help some other devs under the sony umbrella.

sony has dealt with bungie for years so far because of destiny, they must think the tech running it could be beneficial to anchoring these new ideas they have.

I doubt the goal is to make people kill themselves, geez dude.

The goal is profit and yes: at the expense of the mental health of employees and no Bungie is no stranger to this part of the gaming industry: Google Bungie Crunch to read about a few of the horror stories.

Honestly to assume that they don't just want crunch out of Bungie is to give the benefit of the doubt to companies that quite honestly do not deserve it and have done almost nothing to change our minds: I rather my assumptions be wrong while on the side of the employees than what you're doing which is being wrong on the sided of a company that profits from worker exploitation.

 

[Aceseven]

The goal is profit and yes: at the expense of the mental health of employees and no Bungie is no stranger to this part of the gaming industry: Google Bungie Crunch to read about a few of the horror stories.

Honestly to assume that they don't just want crunch out of Bungie is to give the benefit of the doubt to companies that quite honestly do not deserve it and have done almost nothing to change our minds: I rather my assumptions be wrong while on the side of the employees than what you're doing which is being wrong on the sided of a company that profits from worker exploitation.

I see your point, and yes money is the goal with all companies, yet I dont run directly for the worse possible outcome.

Also, bungie sold itself to sony so imo if sony decides to wh*re them out then so be it, they'll either weather that storm and escape again or disappear like so many others before them. for them to leave one giant company only to get bought by another says more about them than sony to me.

Right now crunch(such a dumb and soft word) or better wording, working the ever-loving sh*t out of people is being looked out for now, and with bungie being known I doubt thats the endgoal for either side.

But its gaming in general really, maybe if gamers and their 1 second attention spans didnt require a new bauble every week these companies wouldnt be so hellbent on terrorizing their workforces, everyone talks big until a new trailer hits and they toss cash at a preorder now expecting their hit on day 1, poor devs be damned.

 

[m4a4]

Yeah, it just sounds like Sony wants to have a studio under their umbrella that knows how to do networking well (a very hard thing to do right, especially when you want to do so on a big scale), and can help their other studios.

That said, I'm just a little surprised that Sony doesn't already have solid game networking tech......

 

[DrewTheBrave]

Yeah, it just sounds like Sony wants to have a studio under their umbrella that knows how to do networking well (a very hard thing to do right, especially when you want to do so on a big scale), and can help their other studios.

That said, I'm just a little surprised that Sony doesn't already have solid game networking tech......

"Live service" games like Destiny and Fortnite are where the majority of gametime is spent by hours-played. Utilizing Bungie's technology will save Sony's other studios endless time & headaches they would otherwise need to build the systems from the ground up. I don't know which games or franchises they plan to utilize this tech for, but as a fan of Destiny I'm excited to see how this translates to other franchises.

 

[mrvco]

The timing aligns with when I expect to be able to purchase a PS/5 without having to stand in a line or pay a bunch of money to join an (otherwise worthless to me) club.

 

[Dimitrios]

I can feel Sony's panic like that time when Intel didn't realize how good the Ryzen line from AMD was.

 

[Burty117]

I loved the first Destiny, and I may loath the second entry in the franchise but something I can't deny, Bungies live services and networking in general is pretty top notch.

Well played Sony, I think 4 years might be a bit ambitious for 10 games, but I guess time will tell.