The usefulness of certain opportunities in our lives depends a whole lot on the external environment. You see, an opportunity might look exceedingly promising at first, but it can end up with no impact whatsoever, if the conditions around it aren’t optimal enough. Now, when that’s the prevalent scenario, you have two options. Either you can make the conditions right for these opportunities or you can manufacture chances that are not reliant on anything. Technology, in turn, would go on to achieve both. Firstly, technology’s arrival created a safe space for every possible avenue to function without interruptions. Once that was successfully completed, it allowed its progressive capabilities to takeover and open up all sorts of new horizons. If the said contributions weren’t enough, the creation also gave us a way to keep them sustainable over a long-term period. Powered by the newfound technological capabilities, human beings went on to discover various untapped aspects within their stratosphere, and a big one they stumbled upon during this process was a full-fledged gaming industry. Gone are the days when gaming was just a low-value luxury. Today, it’s a cash cow worth multibillion-dollar. In fact, some of the biggest companies are acknowledging the altered landscape through huge investments in the sector. To understand this new template, we can look at Sony’s latest acquisition.
Sony has officially acquired Bungie, the creator of popular games like ‘Halo’ and ‘Destiny’, for a reported $3.6 billion. While on the surface it might feel like your routine acquisition, the move has everything to with the consolidation war currently going on between some gaming giants. A deeper context is available in Microsoft’s recent purchase of Activision Blizzard, a deal which was valued over $60 billion. Sony didn’t quite clock those investment levels, but it can still prove to be a very significant pickup for the company. The assumption is fair because Bungie isn’t just another company. It’s a name that almost has a cult status among the gaming communities. Beyond its knack of delivering keystone games, the company has also done a lot to guide the industry towards a new model in GaaS (Gaming as a Service). Using Destiny 2 as a major proponent, Bungie has showed that selling a game and then monetizing is possible, and it can be done to unlock some unimaginable financial prospects.
“Today, Bungie begins our journey to become a global multi-media entertainment company. We remain in charge of our destiny. We will continue to independently publish and creatively develop our games. With SIE’s support, the most immediate change you will see is an acceleration in hiring talent across the entire studio to support our ambitious vision,” said Pete Parsons, CEO of Bungie.
For Sony, though, taking over one of the biggest GaaS franchise holds a bigger significance than just winning the gaming duel against Microsoft. It addresses the company’s plan to diversify gaming revenue by putting-forth a channel that will definitely boast a high value in the near future.