Bungie’s
back
storyBungie has expressed its commitment
to supporting the game for the
foreseeable future.
“With Forsaken, we’ve learned, and
listened, and leaned in to what we
believe our players want from a great
Destiny experience. Rest assured
there is more of that on the way. We’ll
continue to deliver on the existing
Destiny roadmap, and we’re looking
forward to releasing more seasonal
experiences in the coming months, as
well as surprising our community with
some exciting announcements about
what lies beyond.”History repeating
The news is somewhat reminiscent
of Bungie’s departure from Microsoft
in 2007. The studio was first acquired
by Microsoft in June 2000 in order to
bring its newest game, Halo: Combat
Evolved, to the Xbox console. The
game went on to be a phenomenal
success and became Xbox’s flagship
franchise, spawning multiple,
increasingly successful entries in
the series. It was then announced
in October 2007 that Bungie would
essentially buy themselves out from
Microsoft to become a private and
independent studio. However, as
Microsoft held the rights to the Halo
IP, this meant that Bungie would
eventually leave the Halo franchise
behind. Bungie’s partnership with
Microsoft continued, developing
more Halo games, until 2010 with the
release of Halo: Reach. It was duringForging a
new Destiny
Bungie and Activision announce the end of
their eight-year partnership
PATIENCE
AND TIMEThere are many things that we’re
expecting for 2019 but we certainly
weren’t expecting this. Early last
month Bungie surprised the gaming
world by announcing that it would
be parting ways with Activision,
effectively ending the ten-year
publishing agreement between the
two companies with the Destiny
franchise. Bungie also confirmed that
it would be retaining the Destiny IP,
as per their initial agreement with
Activision, and taking over publishing
and distribution rights.
A statement from Bungie on its
website reads in part, “We have
enjoyed a successful eight-year run
and would like to thank Activision
for their partnership on Destiny.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to
announce plans for Activision to
transfer publishing rights for Destiny
to Bungie. With our remarkable Destiny
community, we are ready to publish on
our own, while Activision will increase
their focus on owned IP projects.”
Those worried about how this will
affect their experience with the game
can rest easy, as Bungie aims to
make sure this move causes minimal
disruption. They continued, “The
planned transition process is already
underway in its early stages, with
Bungie and Activision both committed
to making sure the handoff is as
seamless as possible.”
As a result of this split there are
legitimate concerns regarding the
future of the franchise as a whole, butBungie was founded
in Chicago, Illinois in
1991, and developed
a space-set
first-person shooter
called Marathon and
real-time strategy
franchise Myth, for
Mac and PC, before
being acquired by
Microsoft in 2000 to
work on a launch title
for its new console.
That game, of course,
would go on to
become the flagship
title for Xbox, Halo:
Combat Evolved.
DESTINY INSIDER
THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 009