Sony is planning to make films out of Bungie IPs

Fresh off the bat of acquiring Bungie in a $3.6 billion deal, Sony has said they have plans to make movies out of Bungie’s intellectual properties.

The acquisition deal was announced earlier this week, with the Japanese company purchasing former Xbox heavyweights Bungie in the latest chapter of the Sony vs. Microsoft feud. By acquiring a company who had long been associated with early Xbox, Sony left down a marker after Microsoft had acquired Activision Blizzard the previous week.

Speaking at an earnings call Q&A, Sony’s chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki spoke of Bungie and Sony’s shared ambition to turn the recently acquired company’s intellectual properties into true multimedia franchises.

“It’s not just for the gaming area, but the multi-using of IP and merchandising of IP – like a game title maybe put into movies,” Totoki explained on the webinar.

“Bungie want to nurture the IP they have in a multi-dimensional manner, and that’s their hope. For that, we believe we can help that – we have Sony Pictures and Sony Music, and Bungie can leverage our platform so that their IP can flourish and grow big.”

Sony will be curious to see how the much-anticipated Uncharted film grosses when it releases, as well as critical reception. Video game movies have left a poor taste in the mouth of consumers, but Uncharted looks to be trying its utmost, especially with a strong cast.

Bungie’s largest IP, Destiny, is likely to be their answer to the multimedia question. Eight years on from its initial release, Destiny is still accruing a strong following, as seen by it still being in Steam’s 10 most currently played games.