Bungie CEO says rumours of a Microsoft acquisition are "false"
Reports suggested that multiple talks had fallen through
by Ali JonesBungie has debunked claims that Microsoft was in talks to acquire the studio. Multiple rumours suggested that the two companies had made multiple attempts to strike a deal, but the studio’s CEO, Pete Parsons, now claims that these reports were false.
The reports first appeared on the GamesBeat podcast, where journalist Jeff Grubb said that he had heard that Microsoft had had talks with Bungie about potentially acquiring the studio, but that the talks “had fallen through repeatedly [as] the price is too high.”
Grubb’s suggestion was later backed up by Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips, who said that he had “independently heard these talks have taken place, driven on Bungie’s side by a desire to raise new funds for the studio, its projects and staff.”
However, Parsons responded to the claims on Twitter, simply stating that rumours relating to the talk and Bungie’s high sale price were “false.” Elsewhere, Destiny 2 community manager David Dague referred to the reports as “gossip.” It’s not completely clear, however, whether Parsons and Dague are debunking the reports in their entirety, or are merely suggesting that the claims are not totally accurate.
While it seems likely that Bungie’s price tag would be pretty high, the suggestion that the studio would be actively seeking an acquisition partner didn’t appear to fit with its decision to separate from former publishing partner Activision in January 2019. Microsoft, however, could have been a good fit for Bungie, as the pair were partnered from 2000-2007, a period which encompassed the development of many of the early Halo games.