No, Sony Doesn’t Own Halo Infinite Now

When news broke that Sony had purchased Bungie, the makers of the original Halo games, some Halo Infinite fans were left wondering what it meant for the franchise. However, Microsoft’s 343 Industries is in control of the Halo franchise and has been for nearly a decade. Halo Infinite is owned by Microsoft, along with all Halo intellectual property, servers, and data. The last original Halo game Bungie created for the franchise was 2010’s Halo: Reach.

Bungie is an American video game development company well-known for its work on the original Halo games, as well as Destiny and Destiny 2. Bungie split off from Microsoft in 2007, and the rights to Halo remained with Xbox and Microsoft. Later that same year, Microsoft created 343 Industries to oversee the Halo franchise, which eventually took over complete control of the Halo game franchise at the end of March 2012. Microsoft’s 343 Industries has made every Halo game since then, and Bungie has had no further involvement in the Halo franchise whatsoever.

Some Halo fans were confused when Sony acquired Bungie, as Bungie was fundamental to the creation of the original Halo games as well as the launch of the Xbox console. Bungie’s Halo games played a large role in Xbox’s early success, with the first Xbox console and the first Halo game, Halo: Combat Evolved, sharing a release date of November 15, 2001. In the early 2000s, before Bungie became a privately held independent company, Bungie was even owned by Xbox and Microsoft, adding to the numerous ties between the two companies. Sony’s acquisition of Bungie was even more unsuspecting as rumors of a renewed partnership between Bungie and Microsoft have persisted for several years, and had to be refuted by the studio multiple times in 2020 alone.

Bungie Acquired By Sony, But Halo Infinite Remains With Microsoft

Bungie announced the news of its acquisition by Sony Interactive Entertainment on its website. In a blogpost, Bungie describes Sony as a “partner who unconditionally supports” its vision, while allowing Bungie to maintain creative independence. Bungie emphasizes that the partnership will be great for the studio, especially in terms of hiring new talent, while addressing fan concerns over what Sony owning Bungie means for Destiny. Some Destiny players raised concerns that Sony’s acquisition of Bungie might result in Destiny 2 becoming PlayStation exclusive, however, both companies have confirmed that Destiny 2’s multi-platform availability won’t be affected.

Bungie has had no involvement with the Halo franchise in nearly a decade, during which time Microsoft has retained sole ownership of Halo IP. Therefore, Halo Infinite and the rest of the Halo franchise are in no way impacted by Sony’s acquisition of Bungie. It’s unlikely Destiny games will be heavily affected by the change, as both Sony and Bungie have disclosed that the partnership is geared toward media beyond video games that Bungie is interested in developing. For fans of Destiny 2 and the Destiny universe, this might mean that a new Destiny TV show or movie becomes a reality in the near future.

Source: Bungie

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Suki Newell
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Suki Newell is a game features writer for Screen Rant and live streamer on Twitch. She resides in Upstate New York with her husband and two rescue dogs.

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