Sony’s acquisition of Bungie to be investigated by FTC

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is launching a probe into Sony’s recent $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie.

Back in January, Sony announced that it was acquiring Bungie. The studio that created Halo and put Xbox on the map. The FTC is investigating the buyout, as is standard practice with deals such as this.

According to a report by The Information, the investigation centres on exclusivity. There is a chance that it may delay the closing date of the deal.

After the announcement of the deal, Bungie published a statement regarding the exclusivity issue:

“No. We want the worlds we are creating to extend to anywhere people play games. We will continue to be self-published, creatively independent, and we will continue to drive one, unified Bungie community,”

Sony acquired Bungie to boost its multiplayer profile. SIE president and CEO Jim Ryan praised Bungie’s “world class expertise in multiplatform development and live game services.”

Destiny 2 launched in 2017, and it has been a huge success for Bungie. Sony has built its console dominance primarily on single-player games, so it makes sense.

In our review of Destiny 2, Alice Bell said:

“Marked improvements in style and story, coupled with Bungie’s always excellent shooting, make this continued space epic a winner. But that never ending grind, though…”