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Bungie signs exclusive 10 year pact with Activision

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DVDBack23 @ Apr 29, 2010 20:50 | 9 comments

Bungie, the developer behind the Halo franchise has announced they have signed an exclusive 10 year pact with Activision that will bring the developer's "next big action game universe to market."

For the next decade Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute future Bungie games "based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices."

Financials of the deal were not disclosed.

Bungie formally had an exclusive partnership with Microsoft, but the two split in 2007.

"We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise," adds Bungie President Harold Ryan. "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."

The Halo franchise has so far brought in $1.5 billion in revenue, and Bungie has sold over 25 million units worldwide.

"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," says 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."

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Comments

Comment by: Oner (Apr 29, 2010 21:23)

Additionally for clarification this does not mean Halo will go Multiplatform. Halo is a MS owned IP and the studio 343 is going to handle any future Halo franchise titles AFTER Halo: Reach.

This is a brand new "action title" that Activision has publishing right to for the next 10 years. At first it was rumored to be an older FPS title that Bungie recently re-registered called "Marathon" (of similarity to Halo i.e. "Space based FPS") but it has been confirmed as a TOTALLY new IP and not a rehash/reboot of something previously done.

This also does not mean that this will be the only title in development by Bungie nor does it mean they cannot still make console exclusives...but at the same token this means Bungie can ALSO make a Wii OR PS3 exclusive title SEPARATELY from this multiplatform game they have in contract with Activision.

This is by far the biggest news of 2010 and way worse than any other loss of similar exclusivity by competitors OR the growing number of losses of 360 game devs...E3 2010 is looking to be nothing short of full of surprises!

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Comment by: slickwill (Apr 29, 2010 22:12)

This is like signing a pact with the Devil.

LOL...I kid...

Comment by: DXR88 (Apr 30, 2010 04:32)

i want some of what bungie is smoking, you'd be better off signing on with EA.

a new Marathon would be badass.

Comment by: rvinkebob (Apr 30, 2010 05:08)

So it seems Infinity Ward is headed south :P

Comment by: DXR88 (Apr 30, 2010 05:15)

Originally posted by rvinkebob:
So it seems Infinity Ward is headed south :P

the Real Ward is already dead, hopefully bungie doesn't get the knife in the back as well.

Comment by: KillerBug (Apr 30, 2010 09:04)

I certainly hope Bungie goes under...their only claim to fame is a series of Quake rip-offs...we don't need companies like this clogging up the shelves with 50 copies of the same game that isn't any different than the last 3 releases of that same game, and really isn't any different from something made by ID software back in the '90s.

Comment by: kikzm33z (Apr 30, 2010 18:18)

Sorry, but Activision sucks.
They only thing they care about is money.

Thank to Bungie being famous for the Halo franchise, I'm sure that Activision will take huge advantage of this and squeeze every single penny out of their customers, for example MW2 being priced at £50.

Bungie are great developers and I'm looking forward to see what they're going to give us all, but Activision will help themselves to find the cheapest method.
Such as lack of dedi servers for CoD4-6 and MW2 has no dedi servers on PC.
And lack of beta for MW2 creating the most over-hyped game of the year.

Sorry for the stupid rant, but Activision sucks and it must be said.
A shame that Bungie signed with them.

Comment by: voyager (Apr 30, 2010 20:59)

This means that Activision is powerful right now and want to destroy the competition, EA.

Comment by: DXR88 (May 01, 2010 01:21)

Originally posted by voyager:
This means that Activision is powerful right now and want to destroy the competition, EA.

EA and Activision are the same story in different covers.