Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Congratulates Sony On Bungie Acquisition

Nice congratulatory statement from the boss.

Seriously, I am 95% sure he was aware Bungie was looking for a new owner, and that their acquisition terms demanded full independence, likely the reason MS passed up on them.

Wouldn't one congratulate the studio, not the publisher?

@Tharsman I highly doubt those terms were part of the acquisition. This seems like a personal move.

@Tharsman Jeff grubb a few weeks ago said he heard that.Xbox was talking to Bungie but nothing concrete (I believe during grubbsnax and followed it up with but currently everyone is talking to everyone) and now speculates it was a bidding war. Which would make sense.
As if I remember Bungie was said to be around 2 billion and most likely a 2.5-3 billion sale price. So the extra 1-1.6 billion could easily be a back and forth.

I envision darker times and more games are going to feel the same; or have the same formulatic gameplay.

I'm a huge PS fan, but I really like Spencer.

are we coming close to the way it was in the old days you buy a system but can play other systems games on it? i remember playing atari games on a coleco or was it the other way around i cant remember but you didnt need both systems to play the games.....and yes im that old......

That's a very nice gesture,I don't recall Jim Ryan doing the same after MS acquired Activision though...

@Tharsman I'd guess MS simply didn't want the headache all over again. This is the third time Bungie have been acquired. Clearly they don't play well with others.

@Terrin let’s face it: you can’t outbid Microsoft. If they don’t win a bid war, is because they are not that interested.

As for what I heard, Jef Corden in Xbox two has stated over the years (I think) that the negotiations didn’t go anywhere due to Xbox feeling Bungie simply was not worth what they were asking for it.

@Tharsman
$3.6 billion for Bungie is day-light robbery in my eyes.
You only gain one IP and the games stay multiformat anyway, so your platform gains nothing to entice gamers to your eco-system.
I think the only reason Sony stumped up so much is because they are desperate for multiplayer live service experience and infrastructure, and Bungie have that in abundance.

@Tharsman Microsoft can't bid on everything as they have limitations and of course limitations also set by courts. They probably won't be aloud to buy anyone else in the billions for a while

That is very spency. : )

From reading the statements yesterday Bungie are also looking to go into different medias. With Sonys movie business they can do just that. I never got into Destiny but from my understanding it has a very deep lore and with Sonys success at the cinema recently they maybe looking to use that.

Also Sony don't currently have any live service IPs of their own so Bungies knowledge could very well help them generate extra revenue from some of their games.

I think it is a good move by Sony adding a few more pieces but I also feel they may have over paid.

Also I love seeing Phil play the nice guy. MS would have been well aware of this happening in advance. They probably even passed up on the acquisition themselves.

@Medic_Alert I don't get how people still say Microsoft are behind sony, how many studios have Microsoft got now? Double what sony have.
Sony got investigated for buying two of the biggest Western anime publishers so what's the difference if a game company buys the biggest game developers/publishers. And on ye software side of things Microsoft have bought the two biggest devs that sells the most software in call of duty, elder scrolls, overwatch, fallout series, doom, diablo etc thier acquisitions effect gaming industry in a massive way unlike Sony's acquisitions

@Medic_Alert surely Microsofts revenue is way infront of Sony's, even on pc software and pc apps etc alone brings in more revenue than sony does. Plus with gamepass on pc, android etc how can they class console sales as a point as they are gaining users via other means than console sales

I believe that Bungie's acquisition terms demanded full independence but it's a fact that once the process is completed, Sony can do whatever they want so I'm surprised at Bungie's ingenuousness. I think that Microsoft were more honest and decided not to acquire Bungie because of those terms (and the price).

@UltimateOtaku91

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/72703/2019s-top-earning-video-game-companies-sony-conquers-the-charts/index.html

In a revenue driven system, you look at revenue.

Also, you need to look at how many companies there are.

@SacredPYRO that was my thought too. A destiny movie or tv series was behind this move in large part.

@UltimateOtaku91 Microsoft has about 130 billion in cash and that money keeps devaluating due to inflation. 70b of that is now committed to Activision, but had MS truly wanted Bungie they could had easily paid 4-5 billion in a bidding war and had money to spare.

And there are zero limitations set by courts on how much they can spend. If you can point at any evidence to the contrary I would love to see it.

Hell, they were about to throw 40 billion at Discord!

Nah, MS didn’t get Bungie because they didn’t want Bungie.

Not that Destiny isn't super popular (and Phil's own favorite game), but MS lost them, Activision broke them, and 343 Poached key people they needed anyway. I still don't know how beneficial anyone buying Bungie of all things really is. They're most famous for a series MS owns, and second most famous for a single (popular) GaaS. But...that's really all they have unless Sony plans to make a new Myth (I'd buy a PS6 for that....)

@Medic_Alert @UltimateOtaku91 I still find it funny how in a matter of months, the PS fan argument has changed from "Microsoft has only Halo, Gears and Forza, they don't have any games or IPs or studios like Sony does, Sony still has so much more content" to "CLEARLY Microsoft has far more studios and games and IPs, they're clearly so much bigger than Sony!"

The Sony fanboy argument sounds like an Xbox fanboy argument somehow, now....

Microsoft is far from a gaming monopoly though. There's 0% chance of trust action. And if there is trust action that opens a VERY interesting can of worms that should shake Silicone Valley, and international (read: Chinese) investment to it's foundations. Of which there's 0% chance of the US government doing that even where it's needed (Let's talk search engines.)

@Tharsman that is my exact thoughts and sentiments.

I think this is a bit of an uninspiring purchase to be honest, as someone who’s owned every PlayStation it doesn’t fill me with any excitement. I know games as a service are all the rage but I hope that Platform holders like Sony don’t begin to roll out endless lot box filled games. Compared to Bethesda and it’s IPs it also seems like an enormous amount to pay for a company with only 1-2 major IPs.

I’m not a big fan of this current acquisition merry go round, but at least Microsoft has bought more exciting companies and all the games will be coming to GamePass

Phil Spencer congratulates Bungie stating "Enjoy the sloppy seconds!"

@blinx01 Destiny 2 is the second biggest fps franchise in the USA. It has 700000 daily players, makes $500000000 a year from dlc!!!

It's getting to be a good time to stop being a gamer. Or at least anything new. What? Are Sony and Microsoft just gonna divide up the devs? Just lemme finish out this year with BotW2, Horizon 2, GoW2 and Starfield.