Bungie signs deal with Activision

[BlackLantern]

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/7...g4tv&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=TheFeed

As the drama surrounding Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward continues to unfold, Activision has dropped a new bombshell: the company has signed a 10-year publishing agreement with Bungie to bring its "next big action game universe to market."
Activision will have the rights to publish the new intellectual property "on multiple platforms and devices." Does this extend outside Xbox 360? The press release doesn't say, but it seems likely, and in a video released to the press, Activision COO Thompas Tippl said the partnership was about bringing Bungie's next universe to "the platform of your choice."
Bungie, like Respawn Entertainment, retains the rights to the intellectual property. Few details on the project were released, not even a codename or vague release date. For all we know, Bungie's next project is years away. According to the announcement release, the deal has been in the works "over the past nine months."

In a bizarre coincidence, the news comes the same day Halo Reach moves into open beta for select users, while the rest of the gaming world waits for the official switch to be turned on next week.
"It’s no secret that while the full might of our studio has focused on making Halo: Reach," said the studio on Bungie.net, "another core team, led by our co-founder and Studio Creative Director, Jason Jones, has already begun laying the groundwork to bring our newest universe, stories, and characters to life. Next up, the most ambitious game we’ve ever made, Halo: Reach. Built upon ten years of experience developing the Halo franchise, we’ve assembled the best team, the best technology, and the best talent to ensure that Reach is the game our fans deserve. Strap in and buckle up tight, we’re sending our baby out with a bang."
Bungie claims the partnership is simply to help the company's games reach a larger audience.

"Today, we’re poised to open a new chapter in Bungie’s history—one that begins with a partnership between Bungie and Activision and ends where we always knew it would, with World Domination," said the studio, with their tongue always firmly planted in cheek. "Our Next Big Thing now has a concrete path, leading from our studio to the platforms of our choosing. The business formalities are behind us. Our Constitution remains unchanged. We are still Bungie, still independent, and now we are free to bring our stories to an ever bigger audience."

Bungie remains partnered with Microsoft for Halo: Reach, scheduled for a release this fall on Xbox 360. Microsoft acquired Bungie back in 2000, converting their sci-fi shooter, Halo, into a breakout Xbox launch title. Bungie also produced Halo 2 for Microsoft. The studio managed to broker its independence from Microsoft just days after the launch of Halo 3 for Xbox 360.

Activision continues to deal with the fallout from the firings of former Infinity Ward leadership Vince Zampella and Jason West. The duo have since formed Respawn Entertainment alongside EA Partners. While Electronic Arts is funding the new project, they do not control the intellectual property -- Respawn does. Both West and Zampella are suing Activision for control of the Modern Warfare brand, unpaid royalties and wrongful termination. 38 other former and current Infinity Ward employees recently filed suit against Activision over money, as well. It's possible the two lawsuits may be merged together.
Halo: Reach is largely expected to be Bungie's last self-developed Halo release. Microsoft formed 343 Industries, involving talent like Kojima Production assistant producer Ryan Payton and former Bungie content manager Frank O'Connor, to oversee the future of the Halo franchise from within Microsoft.

Read more: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/7...m=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=TheFeed#ixzz0mUcvZp7y
​

G4

 

[Havok83]

why would any company want to deal with Activision right now when they are in the middle of such a big legal mess. You'd think they'd wait till the dust settled

 

[Fading]

Wow, that's...odd news in a way. I mean aside from the whole, why would any huge developer break away from a successful partnering to join with Activision so shortly after the IW thing, it's weird because of what Bungie makes.

I mean, I don't think Halo will ever, EVER be on a PS3 console, but it's what everyone knows them by. Bungie is going to Activision from what I'm gathering is so they can do multiplat games, yet they'll probably still do Halo exclusively for the 360 (I doubt Reach is the final Halo). Maybe they have new IP's in the works, and want those as multiplat.

Part of me thinks one of the comments below that article is right tho, we know who's going to make the new COD lol.





I makes me wonder if MS might have focused on the wrong things earlier in this generation in order to get a strong foothold. MS sprung on a lot of 3rd party deals early on (and it did pay off), but now a lot of those deals are starting to wear off, and the companies are finding themselves out of the contract and able to move to multiplat. Where Sony and Nintendo are pumping out tons of quality first parties, MS is now losing control over companies that make some of their biggest exclusives. Like Bioware taking Dragons Age to PS3 despite making ME which is a 360 exclusive (which possibly, maybe could see a PS3 release anyway), the GTA episodes are on PS3 now (for what it's worth considering how long it took lol), and now Bungie is breaking away.






Edit - I read up more on this, and this brings up another curious point. So if MS owns the rights to Halo, and Activision holds rights to all publishing of Bungie games, does this mean Bungie can't work on Halo anymore? I mean if Activision has a 10 year legal binding contract that says they have the rights to say where Bungie games go, and MS wants Halo exclusive, then Bungie probably can't work on Halo because it would be a game made by Bungie which....well I'm just going in circles, but you get the point. Makes you wonder if a new developer will handle Halo after Reach?

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Edit - I read up more on this, and this brings up another curious point. So if MS owns the rights to Halo, and Activision holds rights to all publishing of Bungie games, does this mean Bungie can't work on Halo anymore? I mean if Activision has a 10 year legal binding contract that says they have the rights to say where Bungie games go, and MS wants Halo exclusive, then Bungie probably can't work on Halo because it would be a game made by Bungie which....well I'm just going in circles, but you get the point. Makes you wonder if a new developer will handle Halo after Reach?

Yea i think MS will put a new dev on Halo after Reach. I thought i heard Bungie saying that they were going to move away from Halo once Reach was completed. MS doesnt need Bungie anymore, they have the rights to Halo and thats the name that sells, not Bungie. Its like the whole IW thing, assume Activision shuts down IW and hands the CoD franchise over to another dev, the majority of people wont even notice. I bet the avg CoD player, the ones responsible for MW2 being the fastest selling title of all time, doesn't even realize the series switches dev's each year.

So yea, i think Bungie will move on from Halo and MS will give that to another dev team.

 

[Solidus]

Over at N4G there is more info on it. First Halo is owned by MS now. But, Bungie signed on with Reach as their last Halo game.

So yea they already picked a new dev I think for the next Halo games, I may be mistaken but people were talking of it over at N4G.

But I'm glad of this to a point, and worried. I'm worried of the Activision thing. But I'm glad Bungie will finally move on to other things, they are a good dev that has been doing the same pony trick for too long when they have other great things they can do.

I would love to see more Myth like games from them, or something new. But it will be exciting.

 

[Soapy]

So Bungie breaks free of Microsoft...only to sign up with the most overbearing publisher in the business? So strange.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

But I'm glad of this to a point, and worried. I'm worried of the Activision thing. But I'm glad Bungie will finally move on to other things, they are a good dev that has been doing the same pony trick for too long when they have other great things they can do.

.

I dont think you'll see much more from Bungie other than that one trick, especially now that they have signed a publishing deal with Activison.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I makes me wonder if MS might have focused on the wrong things earlier in this generation in order to get a strong foothold. MS sprung on a lot of 3rd party deals early on (and it did pay off), but now a lot of those deals are starting to wear off, and the companies are finding themselves out of the contract and able to move to multiplat. Where Sony and Nintendo are pumping out tons of quality first parties, MS is now losing control over companies that make some of their biggest exclusives. Like Bioware taking Dragons Age to PS3 despite making ME which is a 360 exclusive (which possibly, maybe could see a PS3 release anyway), the GTA episodes are on PS3 now (for what it's worth considering how long it took lol), and now Bungie is breaking away.

Most of Microsoft 3rd party deals are timed exclusive DLC and I'm sure you'll continue to see it. Microsoft will reveal a few multiplatform games at E3, like they have in years past because they have first dibs on DLC.

 

[Fading]

BTW, both Sony and Microsoft have responded to this.

Microsoft said, "Our partnership with Bungie as a first-party developer for Xbox 360 remains unchanged,” reads the statement, “and right now we’re deeply engaged with them on the development of “Halo Reach,” which is poised to be the biggest game of 2010."

So basically, "We still have Halo Reach, and that's all we care about" heh.

Sony said, "Congrats to Bungie. Marrying their incredible minds and creative talent to the power of the PS3 will be like giving PS3 fans Halo on steroids."


It's funny how the biggest FPS game makers (Bungie, IW) are getting huge shake ups so close to eachother, and both of them involve Activision. Then it goes deeper connection wise that it's leading to the two biggest FPS's (sales wise) on the market are going to be developed by different teams than their makers.

I just wonder what Bungie's new IP is that they felt it important enough to leave MS, and join with Activision. I mean this is (IMO) like the team who makes Pokemon breaking away from Nintendo, forming a publishing partnership with Activision, and saying their working on a new IP that they'll put on the PS3 and 360 as well.

 

[Fading]

Most of Microsoft 3rd party deals are timed exclusive DLC and I'm sure you'll continue to see it. Microsoft will reveal a few multiplatform games at E3, like they have in years past because they have first dibs on DLC.

I know, I guess I was more questioning if it could backfire in the long run. Like after this gen Nintendo will still have Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and so on. Sony will have old and new properties like Uncharted, God of War, LBP, Resistance, Killzone, inFAMOUS, Demon's Souls, and so on. They'll both be pretty set going into next gen with titles. Microsoft on the other hand is somewhat more shaky as with the gen closing a lot of their exclusive contracts have ended (like with GTA), the makers of their biggest game are going multiplat, and even makers of their second and third biggest titles (Gears and ME) are talking or doing multiplat games. I mean they'll still have Halo, but it won't be made by the ppl who made Halo. Plus I'm not sure Bioware will want to make another exclusive contract after their ME contract ends considering they make PS3 games now as well, same with the Gears of Wars devs (again just me wondering, not a definite obviously).

I guess I'm just saying that while I think MS's third party approach worked well early this gen (like why buy GTA IV on PS3 when 360 has the exclusive content), and it allowed them to get a major foothold into the games market, now I'm wondering if it was the right decision and isn't starting to lose it's punch instead. Less games are looking better on the 360 as devs get used to the PS3, and former contracts are ending, and they ended up with less purely owned MS games.


BTW, the above is not a doom and gloom speech in the least. MS will still do great next gen. I'm just saying I was questioning if their over reliance on 3rd parties is as sound of a strategy now as it was earlier considering news like this.




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Edit-

Editing this in here because I don't want 3 posts so close to eachother, but apparently Bungie is already working on their next game, and are already announcing a bit on it.

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=108120

"This is a brand-new action game universe that we'll be working on," Jarrard told us today. "It's definitely not revisiting anything from our past."
And it'll be grand: "With the scale and ambition of what we hope to accomplish with our next universe — how bold we want it to be and how much time we want people to spend in our universe, and the types of stories we want to tell — it is going to take our best and brightest minds of our studio to make this vision a reality. It is going to take everything we have to pull this off."

"Looking back on our pedigree we'll definitely be building on the strengths that have helped Bungie to get where we are today."
"It's definitely safe to say you're not going to hear anything about it this year. We want to make sure Reach is our focus and it gets the discussion it deserves."


"It's certainly not going to be the case where we're just going to 'Have to put our games on x number of devices.' It's going to be the ones that make the most sense."

None of that is really surprising. That they're making an action game that plays to their strengths that will be on the consoles it makes sense for (so maybe no Wii games), and they will make sure Reach gets the focus it should before moving on. Tho the 'action game universe' part tells me that they might be planning on making an expansive game with a huge lore again.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Activision is in the middle of damage control. I'm sure this was meant to be a big announcement during E3 but they pushed it up.

Anything to get people to stop thinking about the IW situation.

This deal has probably been in the works way before the IW thing happened.

 

[Timstuff]

I think that Bungie is a one trick pony, and if they're desperate enough to find a publisher for their new game that they'd sign themselves away to Activision during this fiasco it's not a good sign. Microsoft could have kept Bungie if they wanted to, but they didn't, which makes me wonder if something is up.

And as for Activision, this move is not going to win them any good will from the gaming community. If anything, it's going to breed more contempt since it means Activision could potentially destroy Bungie the same way they did with Infinity Ward.

 

[Addendum]

While Bungie is known for the FPS (Halo and the Marathon trilogy), they've also done a RPG game (Minotaur) and a RTS series (Myth).

 

[StrainedEyes]

The deal is only for Bungie's one new IP. It's a smart business decision for them. They now have a publisher guaranteed for 10 years for their new series, and that publisher has huge marketing capabilities and they can now go multiplatform.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Activision is in the middle of damage control. I'm sure this was meant to be a big announcement during E3 but they pushed it up.

Anything to get people to stop thinking about the IW situation.

This deal has probably been in the works way before the IW thing happened.

According to this editorial, it was a 9 month negotiation.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/108/1086909p1.html

And Bungie knew that Activision would announce this at their shareholders meeting, but wanted to tell their fans first.

 

[Brainiac 8]

While Bungie is known for the FPS (Halo and the Marathon trilogy), they've also done a RPG game (Minotaur) and a RTS series (Myth).

They also did Oni, an early PS2 shooter that had alot of promise yet was highly flawed.

 

[BlackLantern]

I remember 'Oni' and I felt the same way about it....seemed very lacking, great character design and concept though

 

[StrainedEyes]

I remember enjoying Oni.