Bungie and Activision Announce Exclusive, Worldwide Partnership

[tha_con]

Well, they also could have gone to Nintendo...

True enough, but I think Bungie may have wanted to avoid publishing with one of the big three. They obviously had profitability in mind, and they want to expand their market share.

Honestly I think this is all a strategy for Bungie to make enough money for themselves to eventually be a self publishing entity.

 

[dobwal]

This is only one IP, so in essence Bungie is still a free agent when it comes to publishing partners and other new Bungie IPs. This IP must be a online persistent world type of game because why would the contract be time based versus based on the number of titles surrounding this IP. If thats the case, I can understand why MS might of passed because MMO or MMORPGs haven't really done much on console in general and the Xbox specifically. [And] I can understand why Bungie and Activision may have been mutually attracted to each other because of the Blizzard and WOW.

Bungies doesn't have a limited choice for publishing because they basically can form a partnership with any publisher that includes Sony and Nintendo. Multiplat becomes a moot point if only Sony or only Nintendo is willing to front the capital to make a particular Bungie IP happen.

 

[patsu]

Well, they also could have gone to Nintendo...

They can also serve the Apple crowd like the original Bungie.

 

[Florin]

Marathon Online!
World of Mythcraft!!

 

[obonicus]

World of Mythcraft!!

I'd be into a Black Company-esque strategy MMO.

 

[Squilliam]

I thought MS retained a stake and had people on the Bungie board of directors, true/false?!

 

[green.pixel]

Marathon Online!
World of Mythcraft!!

Call of Duty: Reach.

 

[dragonelite]

I thought MS retained a stake and had people on the Bungie board of directors, true/false?!

I heard that too something about microsoft having first calls on any new Ip bungie wants to create.

I think a lot of people are guessing it's a mmo because of the 10 year dedication bungie wants. Dont think microsoft want's to support that.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

MS exclusives talk moved to a relevant thread here. I dare say all the ground had been covered already making future discussion kind of irrelevant.

 

[patsu]

http://www.develop-online.net/features/978/Bungies-jump

Community director and longstanding Bungie employee Brian Jarrard outlines the studio's ten year plan ahead

...

In the summary article:

Halo studio Bungie is edging into production on new internal tech for its next ten-year Activision project, the studio has confirmed.

...

Studio communications manager Brian Jarrard revealed in an interview with Develop the studio will not be licensing a third-party engine to develop its new game, despite Activision’s relaxed rules on the matter.

Bungie will build new tech from the ground up for its next ten-year franchise – one that will, presumably, weather the turbulence of an industry shift to the next generation of consoles.
“I think it goes hand-in-hand with our independent spirit,” Jarrard said.

 

[kagemaru]

Yeah that goes right along with this article here:

Bungie is creating its new, post-Halo action series with the next generation of consoles front of mind.

Speaking to CVG, Bungie community director Brian Jarrard admitted that the firm's Activision-published action series is being "planned, engineered and designed" to potentially appear on Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=258602

 

[Npl]

ten-year project? I thought Gearbox taken over DNF.

 

[Zaphod]

11 years and change from the MS acquisition through Reach, so while probably a gamble on Activision's part, it might not be a fools bet.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

They obviously mean "the series of games we're gonna do on a single new IP" with that, and not "the single game we're gonna do on our new IP".

Just look at their history: Marathon, Myth, Halo, whenever they've found something that worked they kept perfecting it as much as possible through iterations. Whatever their new game's going to be, if it doesn't flop spectacularly they'll just keep releasing better and better sequels every ~3 years. A good strategy, and obviously they've also learned a lot from the Halo2-3 Xbox-360 transitions as well.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Damn, new IP, so probably won't be revisiting Myth. Although I wasn't expecting a 10 year deal to encompass a rather niche title like that, but I still have hopes that someday Bungie will revisit the Myth setting.

Action title, eh? Wonder if it's another FPS? Then again Bungie mentioned wanting to do something different, so maybe they try another shot at a 3rd person action adventure (like ONI but better). Or maybe an Action RPG, that might be fun.

Then again with the dollars Bungie pulled in with the Halo series, the safe bet is probably another FPS.

Regards,
SB

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Whatever they do it's almost guaranteed to have some deep online component. Now Activision still has the COD franchise so maybe they really aren't doing an FPS... we'll see, eventually.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I had no idea that Bungie made Myth. Those games were good.

Activision is gonna be rich. Hopefully Bungie can come up with something good. It would be nice to see something other than a shooter, but I'd like them to stick with action since they're good at it.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Well, they might go back to fantasy. WoW is huge and proves that you can get a lot of people into it... Maybe it can happen on the consoles too. Note that I'm not talking about any MMO here it could be a lot of things.

Consoles don't really lend themselves to that many kind of games, but I'd like to see them try something new again. Before Halo people didn't really think FPS games could work well with a controller, and not they're selling like two hundred million copies of Unreal, COD, Halo, KZ and the rest... Maybe go back to some third person stuff? The most important part is to make it fun, the rest won't matter as much.

 

[NRP]

Yeah, I can't wait to see what's next from Bungie.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I had no idea that Bungie made Myth. Those games were good.

Activision is gonna be rich. Hopefully Bungie can come up with something good. It would be nice to see something other than a shooter, but I'd like them to stick with action since they're good at it.

Heh, Myth: The Fallen Lords was the second closed BETA I participated in.

Would love to see them do an isometric top down action RPG (Like the Baldur's Gate ones on consoles for example).

Would also love it if they went with a darker feel, like Myth. But I'm guessing it's probably going to be a shooter. So maybe a dark isometric top down action RPG shooter (cross between BG on console, Syndicate, and Myth. ).

What sucks is that it'll probably be at least 2 years before we get any real info on it. Then again, neither Bungie nor Activision are particularly shy about talking about what they are working on. Hmmmm.

Regards,
SB