Sony Is Reportedly Going to Pay $1.2 Billion to Retain Bungie Employees

Sony recently went big with their purchase of Destiny 2 developers by Bungie in a deal worth around $3.6 billion.

Following the almost $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, it seemed like Sony would have to play catchup with the developers of Xbox.

However, Sony gave a quick-fire response by announcing their deal with Bungie within a week, which has now set the stage for a jam-packed 2022.

Since the deal was announced last week, Sony has now released their Q3 FY 2021 Financial Results which sheds more light on the Bungie acquisition.

According to the earnings report, Sony reiterated that Bungie will remain an independent studio and will produce multi-platform games.

Other than that, the report also gave more details about with the breakdown of the $3.6 billion deal. This includes $1.2 billion or approximately one-third which will solely be used for deferred payments to employee shareholders.

Bungie has limitless potential to unite friends around the world.

We have found a partner in PlayStation that shares our dream and is committed to accelerating our creative vision of building generation-spanning entertainment.

Our journey begins today.https://t.co/PLuVn48zdy pic.twitter.com/kAhRbAg3vD

— Bungie (@Bungie) January 31, 2022

This means that Sony has spent a sizeable portion of the deal to incentivize Bungie employees, and the company has also announced that they will be paid over the course of several years after the deal closes.

Moreover, the remaining two-thirds or $2.4 billion will be used to purchase the private shares of the Destiny 2 developers which will help over 900 Bungie workers.

Sony has also noted that two-thirds of the $1.2 billion will be paid to the employees in the first two years after the deal closes.

The Japanese corporation has also shared some exciting news regarding their new partnership as they have plans to release more than 10 live service games by the end of FY2025.

Moreover, the two companies also have shared aspirations to spin many franchises like Destiny to the live-action world as well.

It will be interesting to see what this collaboration can bring about as it merges two major giants of their respective industry. In the end, fans hope that both Sony and Bungie can create some fireworks in the near future with live-action and video game projects.