Bungie and Activision announce exclusive worldwide partnership

Oh dear God....

facepalm

Bungie and Activision announce exclusive worldwide partnership

http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2010/4/29-51

Well, now we know why Bungie went back to being a third party studio. After Halo: Reach, it looks like the Halo developers will be hooking up with Activision to try something a bit different. And it may be multiplatform.
The new IP or any other details have not been disclosed as of yet. We're guessing E3 may be a good time to do that.

Bungie, the developer of blockbuster game franchises including Halo, Myth and Marathon, and Activision, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the #1 online games publisher, announced today that they have entered into an exclusive 10-year partnership to bring Bungie's next big action game universe to market. Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices. Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
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."

"Bungie is one of the premier studios in our industry and we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with their talented team over the next decade," stated Thomas Tippl, Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard. "Bungie has developed some of the most compelling and successful games, multiplayer experiences and thriving fan communities, and this alliance underscores our long-standing commitment to foster the industry's best creative talent. Our unprecedented partnership with Bungie will enable us to broaden our pipeline of exciting new games as we continue to strengthen our industry position and pursue long-term growth opportunities."

out of curiosity why is this a bad thing?

or is activision that one douchebag company who scams out of our money with overpriced extra content?

1. If a company is getting sued for millions, why in the world would someone partner with them while in the middle of the case...

2. Activision sucks ass.

Looks like the xbox is going to lose it's killer app.

I trust Bungie, but I don't trust Activision. This could be very bad.

This could end up very bad for Bungie.

I like Activision. Good luck to Bungie. I don't care much for Halo or anything else they make. I've never played Halo 3, reach, etc. I haven't played any Halo related items since Halo2, so I'm.

I like Lionhead, better. 🙂

Bullfrog were much better than Lionhead.

Originally posted by §P0oONY
Looks like the xbox is going to lose it's killer app.

Nope.

They dont own the Halo franchise. MS does, or at least co-owns it with Bungie.

So you wont see Halo on multiple platforms.

Originally posted by Smasandian
Nope.

They dont own the Halo franchise. MS does, or at least co-owns it with Bungie.

So you wont see Halo on multiple platforms.

I don't think it's exclusivity is set in stone. I don't know what contracts surround it but I highly doubt that Mirosoft have secured lifetime ownership of the brand. With a big player like Activision coming in things are likely to change, they will be buying Bungie for the Halo franchise and they'll obvioiusly want to see it go multi platform.

We'll see though, Of all the brands Halo is the one that Microsoft will fight for.

Halo is for MS only.

Originally posted by Ms.Marvel
out of curiosity why is this a bad thing?

or is activision that one douchebag company who scams out of our money with overpriced extra content?

Nah, that's all of them.

Originally posted by The Nuul
Halo is for MS only.

Not anymore.

Originally posted by §P0oONY
Looks like the xbox is going to lose it's killer app.

Originally posted by ArtificialGlory
Not anymore.

Microsoft kept the Halo franchise which will continue to sell--sucks I know.

Er nevermind the post above. It was already adressed.

Edit

Originally posted by §P0oONY
We'll just have to wait and see. From what I understand Bungie are the creators and Microsoft are the publisher of Halo and they have an exclusivity deal (aka Microsoft currently owns it).

I don't think it's exclusivity is set in stone. I don't know what contracts surround it but I highly doubt that Mirosoft have secured lifetime ownership of the brand. With a big player like Activision coming in things are likely to change, they will be buying Bungie for the Halo franchise and they'll obvioiusly want to see it go multi platform.

We'll see though, Of all the brands Halo is the one that Microsoft will fight for.

if memory serves me right Bungie stated on their site's blog that Bungie had to give up Halo in order for M$ to let them go.

i don't think activision bought Bungie for the Halo franchise. They bought it because of their talent backed up with tons of sales. Bungie stated they do not wish to make anymore Halo games and that Reach was going to be their last farewell and nod to their fans. They wish to make new franchises/possibly revisit old ones.

Originally posted by §P0oONY
We'll just have to wait and see. From what I understand Bungie are the creators and Microsoft are the publisher of Halo and they have an exclusivity deal (aka Microsoft currently owns it).

I don't think it's exclusivity is set in stone. I don't know what contracts surround it but I highly doubt that Mirosoft have secured lifetime ownership of the brand. With a big player like Activision coming in things are likely to change, they will be buying Bungie for the Halo franchise and they'll obvioiusly want to see it go multi platform.

We'll see though, Of all the brands Halo is the one that Microsoft will fight for.

i'm pretty sure that Microsoft actually owns Halo currently, something was said about that when they broke off.

Originally posted by jalek moye
i'm pretty sure that Microsoft actually owns Halo currently, something was said about that when they broke off.

Yeah. M$ asked them to make Reach in order to let them become free agents, so to speak.

Bungie just went and T bagged itself.

This whole thing is hilarious 😆

and Yes: M$ does own HALO, and they will continue milking the franchise, only done internally

anyways:
Sony drops in 😄

Microsoft, Sony React To Bungie Deal
Sony says this is a 'big win' for gamers worldwide.

April 29, 2010 - For nearly a decade, Bungie has only been able to publish titles exclusively on Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. But today's 10-year publishing agreement between the Halo developer and mega-publisher Activision changes everything.

Bungie signing with Activision has clearly excited Sony, which has been salivating for years at the thought of having a Bungie-developed title on its Playstation 3 platform.

"The partnership between Bungie and Activision is a big win for gamers worldwide," a Sony spokesperson told IGN. "Combining Bungie's creativity with the incredible power of PlayStation 3 will add serious muscle to action gaming. We look forward to extending Bungie's 'next big action game universe' with PS3 users."

Meanwhile, Microsoft said that Bungie signing a long-term deal with Activision has no effect on its current relationship with the Kirkland-based studio as it prepares to launch Halo: Reach this fall.

"Our partnership with Bungie as a first-party developer for Xbox 360 remains unchanged, 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," a company spokesperson said in a statement given to IGN.

Nintendo has not issued a comment on this deal.

Bungie said in an interview with IGN earlier today any news of the studio's new project won't be revealed until at least 2011.

Funny

"Nintendo has not issued a comment on this deal."

cause they know bungie cant make anything good on their shitty system ermm

😱

not that nintendo needs bungie.