A few weeks ago, a rumor started making the rounds that Microsoft had been in talks with Bungie seeking to acquire the studio. The Xbox manufacturer has been no slouch when it comes to acquiring notable developers, and the recent announcement of the massive ZeniMax/Bethesda acquisition has only stoked speculation about who they might pick up next. The Microsoft Bungie acquisition rumors started picking up steam again when XboxEra reportedly found evidence in public filings that lined up with other developers, but Bungie CEO Pete Parsons once again shot down the rumors with an emphatic “Nope.”
Nope.
— pete parsons (@pparsons) October 2, 2020
Parsons’ reply comes on a tweet from GameRant about the XboxEra discovery. XboxEra posits evidence that the addition of “Corporation Service Company, agent” under the “Directors/Officers” roles on OpenCorporates.com is indicative of sale or acquisition talks, providing evidence that every other developer recently acquired by Microsoft had the same event listed. They even showed that the Sony-acquired Insomniac had the CSC agent installed. All of these listed “Credit, KYC” as the event type. It seems like sound logic, but misses a few major key points.
Why the Microsoft Bungie Acquisition Evidence Doesn’t Add Up
First is that the dates listed don’t line up with the acquisitions. Insomniac and Double Fine both show the “Corporation Service Company, agent” added this year, and yet both were purchased last year. On the other hand, ZeniMax’s addition of the role (listed as “Corporation Trust Company” instead) happened back in 2018, despite the purchase just being announced and not even set to be completed until 2021.
Digging even further, if you look at other developers like Naughty Dog, Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Toys For Bob, Vicarious Visions, each of them also has the “Corporation Service Company, agent” role added at some point within the last few years, all using the same “Credit KYC” event code that XboxEra was convinced means exploration of sale. Does this mean that all of these studios—and more that I haven’t even bothered to list here—are up for acquisition too? It’s highly doubtful. CSC’s services extend well beyond helping Microsoft pick up developers.
Corporation Service Company is an incorporation service headquartered in Delaware. They describe themselves as “the world’s leading provider of business, legal, tax, and digital brand services to companies around the globe.” Corporate filings, real estate, tax services, trusts, compliance; You can read their full “About” page to get a complete rundown, but rest assured, they handle a whole lot more than just acquisitions and their reach expands far outside of just the gaming industry.
As I pointed out last time, Pete Parsons doesn’t usually muck around in responding to rumors and conjecture, but his quick shutdown of these rumors reaffirms former reports of Bungie’s focus on independence. It’s unknown what’s going on behind the scenes at the corporate level with Bungie, but the evidence being presented by XboxEra as proof of acquisition talks is easily dismantled here with a little extra research, and Parson’s firm “Nope” puts a cap on this rumor once again.
