Technology and media giant Sony(SONY) announced Monday it has acquired pioneering video game developer Bungie in a $3.6 billion deal as a rapid consolidation in the industry continues.

Bungie, creator of the highly popular Halo and Destiny "multiplayer shooter game" franchises, will become an independent subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment and continue to be run by its current board of directors and management team, including CEO Pete Parsons, Sony(SONY) said in a release.

"Bungie has created and continues to evolve some of the world's most beloved videogame franchises and, by aligning its values with people's desire to share gameplay experiences, they bring together millions of people around the world," Sony(SONY) President and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said.

The deal, he added, would boost the visibility of Sony's(SONY) PlayStation gaming platform and provide support for the "further evolution of Bungie and its ability to create iconic worlds across multiple platforms and media."

Bungie, based in Bellevue, Wash., has 900 employees. It was acquired by Microsoft(MSFT) in 2000 and was instrumental in developing Halo for the first iteration of Xbox. It split from Microsoft(MSFT) seven years later.

In recent years, Bungie has been known for developing Destiny, a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter games for PlayStation, Xbox and Windows.

Monday's surprise deal was the latest in a series of recent acquisitions in the video game industry, sparking concerns about whether popular games will continue to be available in cross-platform formats.

Two weeks ago, Microsoft(MSFT) announced it had acquired Activision Blizzard(ATVI), maker of the Call of Duty and Candy Crush games, for $68.7 billion, after earlier snapping up Bethesda Softworks, creator of Doom, Fallout and ElderScrolls, for $7.5 billion.

Earlier this month, Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the Grand Theft Auto game, announced it had acquired social game developer Zynga(ZNGA) for $12.7 billion.

 

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