Rumor: Microsoft was in talks with Bungie for a takeover

According to multiple sources, Microsoft and Bungie have been in talks about an acquisition, whereby the developer of the Destiny games would be acquired by Microsoft. Bungie seems to deny this. The studio was already part of Microsoft in the past.

Jeff Grubb, among others, said during a podcast episode of GamesBeat that he heard that Microsoft and Bungie would have had discussions, but that they did not agree on the point of the price. Eurogamer states that it can confirm, independently of this reporting, that the talks have taken place, whereby the takeover from Bungie would be desirable, due to the desire to raise more money for the studio, its projects and employees.

Meanwhile, Bungie’s head, Pete Parsons, has responded to a similar, current rumor that the talks kept stalling because of the high price that Bungie would charge. Parsons says only about that it is not true. He fails to provide any further explanation. As a result, it is unclear whether he also denies the conduct of the talks, or just the claim that the talks have always ended because the parties were unable to reach an agreement on the price.

American developer Bungie is responsible for, for example, the two Destiny games, but also made several titles in the past for Microsoft’s Halo series and the two Myth games. Founded in 1991, the studio became part of Microsoft in 2000, but they parted ways again seven years later. Bungie signed a publishing deal with Activision in 2010, making the latter the publisher of Destiny and Destiny 2. Since last year, Bungie has also ended that partnership with Activision. The developer retained the rights to Destiny and will publish the games themselves. Incidentally, the studio is not only working on Destiny, but also on an as yet unknown new game, which is made possible by a substantial investment from the Chinese NetEase, which invested 100 million dollars in the project.