By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Sony Premarket trading Tuesday saw stock rise 1.2% as Bungie (a U.S.-based video game development company behind popular Halo and Destiny franchises) was purchased by the stock.

After the sale, Bungie will be an independent subsidiary owned by Sony.

Sony normally targets small-ticket deals within the videogame studios sector, but in January rivals secured two significant acquisitions.

Beginning January 10 Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ) reached an agreement to buy mobile gaming leader Zynga at a value close to $13 million. Then on January 18, Microsoft (NASDAQ:) announced the biggest deal in the gaming industry, acquiring ‘Candy Crush’-owner Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:) for nearly $69 billion.

The Bungie purchase gives Sony one of the most popular first-person shooter games to compete with the massive Call of Duty series, which is now in Microsoft’s hands after the Activision acquisition.

Videogaming’s long-term growth has increased with the pandemic. This is because people who are stuck at home have found other ways to enjoy themselves. It is now also seen as an important element of in the still-nascent ‘metaverse’ – a virtual world that allows people to interact with friends, play video games, watch a movie, study or attend a concert online. Microsoft’s, and now Sony’s acquisitions, are directed at a play in metaverse.

Bungie was founded in 1991 and helped put Microsoft’s gaming console Xbox on the map. Microsoft spent $30 million on the acquisition of Bungie, which was originally a Mac gaming developer. The company then spun it off in 2007. Bungie worked on ‘Destiny’ with Activision. This relationship came to an end in 2019.