Bungie Set to Lose Independence, Fully Integrate Into PlayStation Studios

The Q1 earnings call for Sony has revealed plans to fully integrate Bungie into PlayStation Studios, a move described by the company’s CFO, Lin Tao, as an “ongoing process.” Purchased by Sony back in 2022 in a $3.7 billion deal, the former Halo series developer was promised to have the freedom to “self-publish and reach players while they choose to play.” However, this plan is now changing as the Bungie team is set to lose its former independence and fully integrate into Sony’s game development arm.

In a translated August 7th earnings call, Sony CFO Lin Tao addressed questions about how a timing delay in Marathon’s launch has affected sales forecasts and the company’s decision to change how it handles Bungie.

“And about governance of Bungie, as you have said, when we — the governance, at the time of acquisition, we were offering a very independent environment,” said Lin Tao. “However, thereafter, we have gone through structural reform as we have announced last year. So from this type of independence, this independence is getting lighter. So Bungie is shifting into a role which is becoming more part of PlayStation Studios. And integration is also proceeding. So in the long term, if you can see this as an ongoing process, the direction is to become part of PlayStation Studios.”

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Bungie Responds to Marathon Art Theft Accusation

Bungie’s Marathon was initially supposed to release in September this year, but ended up being postponed in June after negative feedback during an alpha playtest. At the time, Bungie promised to have more news on the progress of features to improve the game, along with a new release date, sometime in the fall of this year. 

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During the Q1 earnings call, Tao also emphasized that the game still has no official release date and adhered to the fall timeline for announcements, meaning Bungie and Marathon fans will still need to wait for an update on the game’s ultimate status. The Sony CFO also alluded to the possibility that the game could potentially be cancelled if problems could not be fixed, but said that was not something Sony was currently expecting to happen. Regardless of what transpires with Marathon, it appears that Bungie will have less control over it now that they are undergoing integration with PlayStation Studios.