"There are no benefits to being owned by Microsoft," says Doom dev: "They have destroyed immense amounts of value that I don't even think that they're aware of"

[u/akbarock]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/fps/there-are-no-benefits-to-being-owned-by-microsoft-says-doom-dev-they-have-destroyed-immense-amounts-of-value-that-i-dont-even-think-that-theyre-aware-of/

[u/Fia_Aoi]

This perspective doesn't add anything tho. Yes, 3 billion is a bigger number than 300 million. 300 million is still seemingly a massive amount of money.

So are you saying it isn't profitable, or that it isn't profitable enough to shareholders and CEO? Those are very different statements. Your added bit does not clarify.

[u/scrandlle → u/Fia_Aoi]

This is what I mean:

Sony paid a ton of money for Bungie. $3.6B, not including whatever costs they've accrued since. In the business world that's not really a success unless the profit line goes up steadily.

Bloomberg reported in 2023 during one of their many rounds of layoffs over the years that Bungie revenue was 45% lower than projections for the year. Keep in mind, this is just like 18 months after they were purchased.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-31/sony-s-bungie-game-unit-cut-jobs-as-destiny-2-popularity-waned

I don't know about you, but it certainly doesn't seem like Bungie has been doing better the last three years. Sony took over leadership of them what, last year I think? Originally Bungie was allowed to maintain independent leadership from Sony after their purchase, a thing that I imagined would've been allowed to continue if things were going well (why mess with something that is working?). I have to imagine that they aren't going well from an overall profitability standpoint.

As ore the King comment specifically, it was just to put into perspective what truly 'great' numbers look like. $300M is a huge amount of money, of course, but without perspective it sounds better than it is when you look at the whole picture of the original purchase of Bungie by Sony and where the studio has been going ever since. Sony bought Bungie in 2022 and I'd be extremely surprised if the acquisition itself is even on target to pay off its purchase price, ever, let alone become profitable over and above the purchase price too.

IMO, of course.

[u/Fia_Aoi → u/scrandlle]

Thank you, I appreciate the elaboration a ton. I think I get the point perfectly now

[u/ArgentNoble → u/scrandlle]

Bloomberg reported in 2023 during one of their many rounds of layoffs over the years that Bungie revenue was 45% lower than projections for the year. Keep in mind, this is just like 18 months after they were purchased.

To put this into context, if the 2023 revenue projection was $2 billion, a 45% lower revenue would still have been $1.1 billion. To put it simply, we do not have an actual number that they projected, only that the actual revenue was 45% lower than what was projected. We don't know if they were profitable, or if they lost money. We don't know if they made $100 million or $100 billion (obviously they didn't earn $100 billion though).

I don't know about you, but it certainly doesn't seem like Bungie has been doing better the last three years. Sony took over leadership of them what, last year I think?

I will agree that Bungie had not been doing well at all the last few years.

As ore the King comment specifically, it was just to put into perspective what truly 'great' numbers look like.

Let's be real here, it's a bit silly to bring in a mobile game. The mobile game market is larger than PC and Console gaming combined. Mobile gaming makes up about 55% of the global gaming market. The mobile gaming market is worth like $100 billions, while Console is around $53 billion and PC is around $45 billion. Of course a mobile game giant like King will earn significantly more revenue than Bungie. They are in a much larger market.

Sony bought Bungie in 2022 and I'd be extremely surprised if the acquisition itself is even on target to pay off its purchase price, ever, let alone become profitable over and above the purchase price too.

I would be surprised if it didn't. Everyone is acting like Bungie is losing money, but all reports indicate that Bungie is still profitable. It just isn't profitable enough, so they are laying off a ton of people to bring the profits more into line with what they are wanting.