The biggest companies in the console gaming world are waving their wallets about willy-nilly this year, as they prepare for the next phase of competition.
Microsoft announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard, the publisher of game franchises ranging from Call of Duty to Candy Crush Saga, for $68.7bn earlier this month.
Now one of its chief rivals, Sony Interactive Entertainment, has swooped to buy Bungie, the developer of the Destiny franchise, and the original creator of Halo.
Sony will pay $3.6bn for Bungie, although like the Microsoft / Activision Blizzard deal, will be subject to approvals from regulators.
Bungie has promised that its current key game, Destiny 2, will remain a multi-platform game rather than being restricted to (or only improved for) Sony’s PlayStation consoles.
There’s a sense of serious strategic moves being made by two of the big three console platform owners (the other is Nintendo).
Added spice for this acquisition comes with the fact that Bungie started life as an independent developer, before being bought by Microsoft in 2000.
Seven years later, the two companies split and Bungie resumed life as an independent firm, although Microsoft retained the rights to the Halo franchise as part of the separation.
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