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Developer Bungie Splits With Publisher Activision, Will Keep World Shooter Series Destiny (kotaku.com)
Developer Bungie and publisher Activision are splitting up in an industry-shaking divorce that will see the shared world shooter series Destiny enter fully into Bungie's control. From a report: This development comes after years of tension between the two companies -- tension that has existed since before the first Destiny even shipped. Bungie, the studio that created and has led development on the franchise, told employees during a team meeting this afternoon, framing it as fantastic news for a studio that has long grown sick of dealing with its publisher. Employees cheered and popped champagne, according to one person who was there.
[...] One of the most significant tensions between Bungie and Activision had long been the annualized schedule, which mandated the release of a new Destiny game or expansion every fall. Now, separated from Activision, Bungie will no longer be constrained to that schedule. "We'll continue to deliver on the existing Destiny roadmap, and we're looking forward to releasing more seasonal experiences in the coming months," the company said, "as well as surprising our community with some exciting announcements about what lies beyond."
[...] One of the most significant tensions between Bungie and Activision had long been the annualized schedule, which mandated the release of a new Destiny game or expansion every fall. Now, separated from Activision, Bungie will no longer be constrained to that schedule. "We'll continue to deliver on the existing Destiny roadmap, and we're looking forward to releasing more seasonal experiences in the coming months," the company said, "as well as surprising our community with some exciting announcements about what lies beyond."
Can we get Blizzard split off next, please? Activision is too worried about new characters to fix the problems they have with the game as it is.
Beware of Sales Reps bearing gifts.
I thought that when Bungie finally broke away from Microsoft, we might see a return to the old Bungie, from the days of Marathon and Myth.
But then Destiny was... not that... and some people say that that's more Activision's fault than Bungie's.
Maybe now that they're finally free and back to self-publishing like they always used to, before the dark times, before the acquisition, maybe now we'll finally see a return of the old Bungie?
I'm not counting on it. The only person still around from the olden days is Jason. Even Robnar is gone now, and I can't even find where to.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
Good move. Pop those corks.
Good move by Activision.
Will become good?
At least Bungie didn't make the third classic blunder, the first getting involved in a land war in Asia, the second being crossing a Sicilian in matters of death, both of which are only slightly more well known than: never get into bed with Sony Online Entertainment to publish your game. It's one thing to get Munson'd, it's another level entirely to get Sony'd. Admittedly though, Activision isn't all that much better....
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Bungle had The Last Word?
I'll show myself out.
What does a game publisher do? It's not like they have to put CDs in boxes and ship them to stores. Upload to steam and be done with it.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Can we get Blizzard split off next, please? Activision is too worried about new characters to fix the problems they have with the game as it is.
Blizzard, well Vivendi which owned Blizzard, bought Activision. Vivdendi was wise enough to have hands off Blizzard and wise enough to recognize "Activision" was a more well known brand than "Vivendi Games". So Vivendi's new company was named "Activision Blizzard". Blizzard is still largely autonomous of the Activision management that was retained and put in charge of the other Vivendi Games studios.
Note how Blizzard is still on its decades old, it will ship when its ready schedule, and not tied to any sort of annual release schedule as Bungie was complaining of.
Pitfall Harry and Pepperidge Farms remembers.
I forget who the actual studio was, but the networking code for Mechwarrior 2(Mercs only?) was ANet, by Dan Kegel (also responsible for a variety of linux work, particularly tools for cross platform building!)
Also Mechwarrior 1 was actually created by Dynamix, as was the original Mechwarrior 2 demo with the Puma and Marauder IIC. Activision shafted Dynamix on the continuing license and 'brought it in-house' to a more 'favorable' studio who used/developed the same engine as i76/82/Heavy Gear used to produce those games. The result of this was the Earthsiege/Starsiege series of videogames, the Cyberstorm series, and eventually Starsiege: Tribes, the FPS. All started thanks to a spat with FASA/Activision which left them producing a 'Mechwarrior 1'-like game without a license.
Cyberstorm was the closest major publisher game to a Battletech board game, although Klaus Brauer(sp?)'s Mechwar 1.2 was the most comprehensive computer game I played. MekWar has since taken that crown, but many years later and in java. Mechwar was written in the early 90s on DOS and had a full mechwarrior design tool based off 2nd edition rules, plus a mech designer, plus a module to play out scenarios. Sadly it had neither scripting nor AI support, so it required 2 players if you wanted to play out scenarios against an opponent. I had quite a bit of fun with it over the years however. Sadly its sequel 2.0 was never completed and while source code was released, it was not in a state that ever resulted in completion.
Heroes of the Storm flopped. Overwatch did not meet expectations. D3 was a disaster, though they made some money back with the expansion, it was still a damaged brand that was abandoned. Blizzard lost its autonomy as a result of successive flops, which is why everyone old-school has now left.
Nope. According to the Q32018 financial report Blizzard had $1.5B in revenue for the first nine months of 2018. The rest of Activision combined had $1.8B in revenue. Blizzard alone is responsible for 46% of Activision Blizzard's revenue. Blizzard still has amazing employee retention and many 10 and 20 year veterans to this day.
Yeah I was going to write about half of that but thank you for making it superfluous. Activision is just a mill, they don't actually "make" anything - they only make it bloated and DLC'able.
Bungie died a long time ago when they sold out to Microsoft. Unfortunately all that Microsoft touches usually turns to shit and Bungie was not spared.
After playing Destiny 2, buying first DLC and hearing about Destiny 1, I am pretty sure I will never buy a single product from Bungie ever again. Bungie made some epic games back in the day. But unfortunately all good things must come to an end.