Sony’s CEO says Bungie acquisition marks ‘a major step forward in becoming more multiplatform’

Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has said the company’s planned acquisition of Bungie is partly motivated by a desire for PlayStation to become more of a multiplatform business.

While Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has traditionally focused on developing games for PlayStation consoles, in recent years it has also begun investing heavily in PC and mobile gaming.

Last year SIE CEO Jim Ryan confirmed PlayStation would bring “a whole slate” of games to PC, and the company hired Apple Arcade’s former content boss to lead a new business unit established to adapt its “most popular franchises” for mobile.

Sony announced in January that it intends to purchase Halo and Destiny creator Bungie in a deal worth $3.6 billion.

It said at the time that Bungie will be “an independent subsidiary” and remain a multiplatform studio following the acquisition.

Speaking during a corporate strategy meeting on Wednesday, Sony boss Yoshida said the company has “high expectations” for Bungie.

“We believe it will be a catalyst to enhance our live game services capabilities,” he said. “Our acquisition of Bungie also represents a major step forward in becoming more multiplatform.”

At the time of the deal’s announcement, Bungie also said existing and future games currently in development will not be exclusive to PlayStation platforms following the acquisition.

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Whether or not Sony’s multiplatform strategy will extend to the company releasing some first-party games on rival console platforms like Xbox Series X/S remains to be seen.

It was announced in January that Microsoft intends to purchase Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal that would give the Xbox maker exclusive ownership of franchises including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot and Guitar Hero.

Should the deal gain regulatory approval, Microsoft has said it will continue to release Activision Blizzard games, including Call of Duty titles, for PlayStation consoles following the acquisition and beyond existing contractual agreements, and that it wants to make more of the publisher’s games available to Nintendo players too.