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The ink has dried and the deal has closed: Sony officially owns legendary developer Bungie. The acquisition – worth a reported $3.6 billion – will see the Halo creator retain its independence, and “accelerate its vision to create generation-spanning entertainment”. A statement said: “Today, Bungie begins our journey to become a global multi-media entertainment company.”

As part of the purchase, Bungie will help Sony to establish a Live Service Centre of Excellence, which will improve upon the platform holder’s knowledgebase as it looks to release at least ten live service games. The developer, meanwhile, will continue to nurture the uber-popular Destiny 2, while also taking “bold steps into unexplored spaces for Bungie”.

It’s worth reiterating that the company will continue to create multiformat games, despite its integration adjacent to PlayStation Studios within the Sony Interactive Entertainment umbrella. That’s a point that the studio was eager to hammer home now that the acquisition is complete: “Our games will continue to be where our community is, wherever they choose to play.​”

In addition to working closely with various other first-party teams like Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica Studio, Bungie’s first steps within Sony will be to recruit aggressively, as it looks to expand upon its already sizeable team. It mentions “all new worlds beyond” Destiny 2, so it clearly has multiple new projects in the pipeline.

It’s been a busy month for Sony’s corporate lawyers, with the company also closing its deal to buy Haven Studios earlier this week. This massively expands the size and scale of Sony Interactive Entertainment, with the firm indicating that it’s not finished on the acquisition front. What do you make of these developments? Open your cheque book in the comments section below.

[source twitter.com, via bungie.net]