Sony has carved off more Bungie: the Creative Studios team will now officially be a part of PlayStation Studios

Sony's assimilation into PlayStation Studios of Bungie, the studio behind Destiny 2, took another step today with an announcement that Creative Studios, the arm responsible for developing and directing the "artistic vision" of Bungie games and their branding, is now a fully integrated part of PlayStation Studios.

Bridget O'Neill announced the change on LinkedIn, via Game Developer. She said that her team was "joining PlayStation Studios to create a foundation for a team of creatives that can support all PlayStation Live service games."

"This opportunity to share Bungie titles' experience with other studios who are building live service games, is so exciting," O'Neill wrote.

"Live service can be challenging and brings with it a unique set challenges. With PlayStation and Bungie working in tandem, we will be able give a huge boost to the development of new games when they enter this highly competitive market."

O'Neill confirmed that the team would continue to work on Destiny 2 as well as Marathon.

In some ways, this change has been long overdue. Sony's 2022 acquisition of Bungie was partly motivated by a desire to "incorporate the expertise and technology Bungie has developed within the live game services area" into its own studios. Bungie's influence can be seen in the decision of Sony to delay and then cancel a Last of Us multi-player game after Bungie expressed doubts over its viability.

Bungie has been in a sour mood for some time. PlayStation chairman HirokiTotoki expressed frustration with Bungie leadership in the beginning of this year. He wanted to see "accountability' for development budgets. And when Bungie announced 220 layoffs in July, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said that another 155 workers, or about 12%, of the studio’s employees, would move to Sony. Bungie's "incubation project", which was previously a part of Bungie, is being spun off as a new PlayStation studio.

I think it is fair to say, however, that PlayStation could use a more experienced guide for its live service. After causing maximum damage by refusing a PlayStation Network requirement, Sony smashed Concord, a shooter online that was the most DOA game of all time.

Despite its catastrophic failure, a Concord comeback could be in the works, and if so that makes the timing of the announcement interesting--bringing it back as a videogame people actually find appealing might be just the sort of thing O'Neill and her team could help with.