Could Sony's Bungie Acquisition Mean A Destiny Movie Is On The Table?
Yesterday saw a huge bombshell drop in the gaming world. Hot on the heels of Microsoft buying up Activision/Blizzard ("World of Warcraft" and "Overwatch") and Bethesda Game Studios ("Elder Scrolls" and "Fallout"), Sony made a big multi-billion dollar move of their own, snatching up Bungie, the developer behind the original "Halo" games and "Destiny."
Speculation began almost immediately about whether or not this acquisition would mean "Destiny" is going to be exclusive on PlayStation, which would cause riots from Xbox and PC gamers. Bungie and Sony nipped that right in the bud, saying that nothing has changed — the game will remain available on all platforms and even the mysterious new Bungie game that is supposed to debut sometime in 2025 will remain multi-platform.
In fact, both parties have been very upfront about the terms of this deal, with Bungie taking the lead and assuring its player base that the $3.6 billion influx of cash is only a good thing that will lead to more hires, more content for their existing games, and quicker development for their upcoming games.
Bungie says they'll retain complete creative control, they will continue to self-publish, and will still offer "the same game everywhere" as they have done before the sale.
So, then what did Sony/Playstation pay for then? And will this mean anything for movie fans?
It's All About The IP
Bungie's statement is well-written and thorough, but one thing I noticed right at the top that I don't see many people focusing on is that Bungie sees partnering with Sony as a step towards bigger things than video games.
Here's the portion of the statement that caught my eye:
In (Sony), we have found a partner who unconditionally supports us in all we are and who wants to accelerate our vision to create generation-spanning entertainment, all while preserving the creative independence that beats in Bungie's heart. Like us, (Sony) believes that game worlds are only the beginning of what our IPs can become. Together, we share a dream of creating and fostering iconic franchises that unite friends around the world, families across generations, and fans across multiple platforms and entertainment mediums.
Today, Bungie begins our journey to become a global multi-media entertainment company.
It sounds like Bungie really wants to branch out beyond video games, doesn't it? That'd be the whole "global multi-media entertainment company" and the focus on this deal letting them foster "iconic franchises" across multiple "entertainment mediums" part of their statement.
That leads me to think that Sony might be looking beyond just the existing and future game franchises and making a move toward a possible "Destiny" movie or TV series.
This is all speculation, of course, so take it with a grain of salt, but Sony has been moving many of their video games into that space, with two big titles hitting this year. "Uncharted" starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg is coming out via Sony's Columbia Pictures very soon, and Naughty Dog, which works exclusively with Sony/Playstation, has an HBO series adaptation of " The Last of Us" coming as well.
So it starts to make a little more sense why Sony might be interested in forking over all that dough when you think of potential "Destiny" tentpole movies or streaming series deals.
Undead Space Warriors Could Be Cool On The Big Screen, Right?
The lore of "Destiny" is surprisingly deep and complex. I play a lot of "Destiny," so let me break some of it down for you. Essentially you play a character called a Guardian, which is almost always a dead person resurrected by a little floating robot that helps harness a greater power provided by a moon-sized entity called "The Traveler."
The Traveler is a being/structure/big moon thing that powers all light in our universe. Unfortunately, it draws darkness to it in the form of various alien races trying to claim that power for themselves. Your guardian wields this light to fight for The Traveler and against this eclectic collection of bad guys.
It's a beautiful game that has all the fun of a first-person-shooter and a role-playing-game combined. I'm not sure if there's a definitive badass story to adapt (like "The Last of Us" or something like "Bioshock"), but there's a ton of rich imagery to play with, exciting NPC characters, and a whole lot of deep cut story details that even I don't have a full understanding of and I've been playing "Destiny" nonstop since 2014.
I think it's likely that part of the reason Sony paid almost as much for Bungie as Disney did to acquire Lucasfilm is they see dollar signs when they think of a successful multi-media expansion of their IP.
There's also whatever secret thing Bungie's been working on for a while that is supposed to come out in 2025. Word is that IP is brand new and maybe Sony sees possibilities there, as well.
Or it could just be a corporate power move, a response to show that Microsoft can't own every dang game developer out there and that's all Sony cares about. I couldn't tell you for sure, but my gut is telling me that they wouldn't have used such specific language in that release if Sony wasn't brewing up something bigger than just the video games.