And yep, this may be the beginning of a rolling set of acquisitions industry-wide, though it must be said it's going to be hard to top the Acti Blizz stuff Microsoft pulled, though a full Take-Two (so Rockstar) buyout from either mob *could* declare a so-called "winner" in this newest console wars phase.

Which brings us to today's news that Sony has formally agreed to a deal to acquire Halo and Destiny creator Bungie.

As reported by Games Industry.biz, the proposed deal is said to be worth $3.6 billion (USD) and will make Bungie an independent subsidiary of Sony, which sounds much like the deal Microsoft made with Bethesda (the Acti Blizz deal isn't like-for-like).

According to the report, the deal will mean Bungie decides on how best to maximise its audience and will remain a multi-platform studio. Currently the dev giant continues to support Destiny 2, but is also working on new IP. Whether that new IP becomes PlayStation exclusive or not will remain to be seen.

Bungie's CEO, Pete Parsons, will remain in his role and has reiterated the deal will allow Bungie to remain "creatively independent".

"We've had a strong partnership with Bungie since the inception of the Destiny franchise, and I couldn't be more thrilled to officially welcome the studio to the PlayStation family," said SIE president and CEO Jim Ryan.

"This is an important step in our strategy to expand the reach of PlayStation to a much wider audience. We understand how vital Bungie's community is to the studio and look forward to supporting them as they remain independent and continue to grow. Like Bungie, our community is core to PlayStation's DNA, and our shared passion for the gamer and building the best place to play will now evolve even further."

We'll have more on this as it becomes available.