Bungie and Activision Announce Exclusive, Worldwide Partnership

[NavNucST3]

Disbelief...


I should add more to the OP but...wow...

The groundbreaking alliance will provide Bungie its first such partnership since splitting off from Microsoft in 2007, significantly broadening its global reach by providing the resources and support to develop, distribute and release games worldwide on multiple platforms and devices.

Activision will broaden its portfolio with a new franchise from one of the industry's most creative, successful and proven studios, whose games have sold more than 25 million units worldwide. To date, Bungie's Halo games have generated approximately $1.5 billion in revenues, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and GfK. Activision expects this agreement to be accretive to its operating margins as of the release of the first game.
"We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise," said Harold Ryan, President of Bungie. "From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences."

...

 

[Phil]

ZOMG!

 

[Florin]

Halo for PC/PS3!

 

[Alkohallick]

Halo for PC/PS3!

nah it says new ip's

 

[Rangers]

So as they said at Neogaf, doesn't this mean MS passed on the project? AKA, didn't MS have right of first refusal on any Bungie projects? Makes me wonder if it's something offbeat rather than a slam dunk commercially?

nah it says new ip's

Not even to mention a billion other reasons like MS owning the Halo IP, but I'm sure Florin knew that.

 

[liolio]

Wow it's interesting, I wonder if Ms is about to move to the next gen with only Rare left or even let go what left of them too?
Strange.

 

[ShadowRunner]

So as they said at Neogaf, doesn't this mean MS passed on the project? AKA, didn't MS have right of first refusal on any Bungie projects? Makes me wonder if it's something offbeat rather than a slam dunk commercially?

Without knowing more details about the first refusal deal its hard to say, there are most likely several ways around such agreements. Could be that partnering with activision in a way thats different to the typical dev/publisher relationship could get around it. Or it could have just been a good will sort of thing rather than legally binding.

 

[obonicus]

Man, I love these crazy out of nowhere pieces of news so much.

 

[Rangers]

I'm not sure why people will be so surprised. Who didn't expect at least a good chance Bungie would go multiplatform after the split? I'm sure many will spin this as the yet again end of Microsoft gaming though, and that's fine.

Also, not sure why people are surprised about Activision either. Im sure Bungie got a real sweetheart deal, total creative control and etc, because of who they are, and how bad I'm sure Acti wanted to land them. And it probably kind of had to be one of Acti or EA if not MS...

Wow it's interesting, I wonder if Ms is about to move to the next gen with only Rare left or even let go what left of them too?
Strange.

Rare is seemingly running point on Natal. Why would they be let go? There's also Lionhead, Turn 10, 343 (new Halo studio) etc.

It is kind of weird, but dont forget Halo stays with MS. The only change is, it's Halo developed by 343 not Bungie. We'll see how that turns out...after 3 I was eager to see Halo enter new hands. Now since Reach is looking so good, I've reconsidered.

 

[NRP]

After the initial reaction, I guess it shouldn't be surprising that Bungie would partner with a multiplatform publisher. Hoever, given Activison's recent antics, I hope it works out well for Bungie.

So we should be hearing more about their new IP now, right?

 

[JB9861]

Broadening that portfolio indeed. An IP with the sales potential of the latest GTA or MW1 if they bring it to 360, PC, and PS3.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It's a 10 year deal on this new, unproven IP?! That's quite the gamble! Sounds more like a commission than any sort of studio ownership. Bungie will work this title for Activision, and still be free to develop other titles as well, if they can fit them in their schedule. But man, a ten year deal now with no real idea what the future of gaming will be like by then...

 

[tha_con]

I am not pleased.

 

[Arwin]

Can this be anything other than an MMO? Maybe an MMO shooter?

 

[tha_con]

Can this be anything other than an MMO? Maybe an MMO shooter?

It can be a lot of things. It could even be an RPG (though that's unlikely). If anything, I'd say it's possible bungie is working on something similar to Fallout (a shooter / rpg hybrid). I'm excited to see Bungie leave the god damned Halo franchise since it's been essentially run into the ground this generation (IMO). On the other hand, it's really sad to hear they're going to Activision.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Hope they have the creative part, and the payment and royalty stuff well covered in their contract...

 

[patsu]

Cool, welcome to the pits. ^_^

 

[Grall]

Bungie bunking down with Activision for a decade - I hope they can wait 10 years to get paid then, and only if they still work with the company...

 

[patsu]

I wonder if this deal was signed before or after the MW debacle.

 

[Billy Idol]

I don't like the idea of Bungie going multi plat!!
Exclusive Titels are the best this generation (IMO), and there are only a few of them available, so loosing another exclusive plat dev hurts