Sony Has Set Aside $1.2 Billion for Bungie Employee Retention Incentives

While Sony’s acquisition of the Destiny studio Bungie has been making waves across the gaming industry, the details of the deal continue to get even more interesting as more information starts seeping through the cracks and becomes public.

For instance, in its recent quarterly earnings report, Sony has confirmed that it plans to use a sizable portion of the Bungie acquisition price for the purposes of employee retention at the studio. Sony will  spend 1/3rd of that $3.6 billion, which is $1.2 billion, as a long-term incentive plan that will reward Bungie employees who stay with the company.

The remainder of the $2.4 billion will be paid out by Sony as a direct buyout of Bungie’s private shares. The plan is to keep the current Bungie staff at the studio after the acquisition. On top of that, Sony is further prepared to pay around $792 million in deferred incentive payments in the first two years after the deal ends.

This is, of course, a deal that Bungie stands to profit from in multiple ways. Another major one is the fact that the studio will get to keep its independence to create, publish, and release games across all the platforms available out there, while staying under PlayStation’s umbrella.