Bungie Senior Design Lead and Creative Lead Tom Farnsworth tweeted an image that celebrated the various Destiny releases made by the game developer based in Bellevue, Washington since it switched to the Destiny IP. In a follow-up tweet, he relayed an interesting tidbit of info: Bungie is working on multiple unannounced projects with the help of Sony.
This Shield is what 11 years at Bungie looks like. Each medal represents one of the 25+ Destiny releases we’ve shipped to millions of players. During that time, we completely changed how we develop games and do business, moving from strictly boxed products to live service games.
And with the support of Sony, we are working on a number of unannounced projects too. Come join us!
As you'll surely be aware, Bungie was acquired by Sony last year in a massive $3.6 billion deal. The acquisition was announced in late January (not long after Microsoft announced its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard) and was officially completed by mid-July, according to Sony. The studio will remain multiplatform.
The two companies publicly discussed the rationale behind the deal. Sony wanted a developer with strong expertise in live service games, given its plan to grow into this segment of the gaming market, while Bungie had long planned to expand its IPs (chiefly Destiny) on other mediums like film and TV and saw no better partner than Sony.
Bungie has also had plans to create new IPs and games for several years. In June 2018, the company received a $100 million investment from NetEase to build another team that could develop games in parallel with the existing Destiny commitments. The following year, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said the company planned to release its new IP by 2025.
We don't really know a lot about it except that it might be called Matter (following a trademark registered a few years ago). In early 2020, Bungie was hiring for its new IP and the job description hinted at the game including lighthearted and whimsical characters, changing from the usual tones of their titles. Just over two months ago, we also learned of Marathon possibly being revived as an extraction shooter, though it's just a rumor for now.
What would you like to see from Bungie and Sony?
