Sony’s assimilation of Destiny 2 studio Bungie took another step forward today with the announcement that its Creative Studios arm, responsible for directing and developing the “artistic vision” and branding of Bungie games, is now fully a part of PlayStation Studios.
Word of the change came from Bridget O’Neill, formerly the senior director of Creative Studios at Bungie, now the senior director of Creative at PlayStation Studios, who said on LinkedIn (via Game Developer) that her team “is joining PlayStation Studios to build the foundation for a creative team that can support all PlayStation live service games.”
“This opportunity to share our experience working on Bungie titles with other studios that are building live service games is so exciting,” O’Neill wrote.
“Live service is hard and comes with a unique set of challenges, so with PlayStation and Bungie working together we will be able to give a huge jumpstart on development for new games as they enter this super competitive market.”
Despite the move, O’Neill said the team will also continue working on Destiny 2 and Marathon.
In some ways, the change has been a long time coming. Sony’s acquisition of Bungie in 2022 was driven in part by a desire for “the expertise and technology that Bungie has developed in the live game services space,” which Sony wanted to incorporate in its own studios. Bungie’s influence was subsequently seen in the decision to delay, and eventually cancel, a Last of Us multiplayer game after Bungie, which had been asked to give the game a look-see, expressed doubts about its viability.
But the bloom’s been off Bungie’s rose for a while now. PlayStation chairman Hiroki Totoki expressed irritation with Bungie leadership earlier this year, saying he wanted to see more “accountability” for development budgets and schedules, and when Bungie announced the layoff of 220 employees in July, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons announced that another 155 employees, representing about 12% of the studio’s employees, would be moved to Sony. Another “incubation project” at Bungie is also being spun off into a new PlayStation studio, separate from Bungie.
Apart from all that, though, I think it’s fair to say that PlayStation could probably use an experienced guiding hand for its live service games. After shooting itself in the foot by refusing to back off on a PlayStation Network requirement for Helldivers 2 until the maximum possible damage was done, it absolutely clanged it with Concord, an online shooter that may have been the most DOA videogame of all time.
Despite its catastrophic failure, a Concord comeback could be in the works, and if so that makes the timing of the announcement interesting—bringing it back as a videogame people actually find appealing might be just the sort of thing O’Neill and her team could help with.