Bungie, Activision Split; IP Stays With the Developer, Destiny 2 Roadmap Unaffected

[Raevenlord]

Reports were trickling in throughout the industry that relations between Bungie and its publisher Activision weren't going well right from the start. The developer has had, historically, strained relations with anyone wringing money over their heads; Microsoft, and now Activision, have been on that side of the equation already, with the developer choosing to part ways both times. Whether this comes from external pressure towards the studios' team or Bungie's own internal culture is something that's still unclear; either way, the champagne bottles that were reportedly opened by Bungie employees right after the studio broke the news to the team today speaks volumes (or should that be liters) on the prevailing feeling.

The split has meanwhile been officially announced by Bungie via a blog post, and Activision has already said its goodbyes in social media as well. Bungie says that the roadmap and Destiny 2's integration with Battle.net won't be affected, and that they'll be bringing exciting news to gamers following this split. What exactly results from this for Bungies' post-roadmap plans remains to be seen; whether an ever-expanding MMO experience or more franchise installments, at least now Bungie have no-one but themselves to blame on any shortcomings that befall the Destiny IP in the future.



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[rere252]

Third time's a charm.

 

[eidairaman1]

Bungie might go out of existence if they keep this up.

 

[Minus Infinity]

EA and Activision are scum, more power to Bungie for having the guts to part ways with these rapacious scum. They've already started destroying Blizzard.

 

[Emanulele]

Too bad that's not possible for Blizzard as Activision is more than a publisher there

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Curious if they didn’t like the micro transaction route that Destiny 2 started out down, and now we get annual passes. That seems like common tactic among these mega conglomerate studios. The question is, can Bungie survive on their lonesome, as they somehow keep getting bought up. If time of play is any indication, I’m a big fan of the series—beautiful game, good mechanics, varied play style with some fun coop options. Hope we get more fun and less fleecing with this move.

 

[Eric3988]

The way I see, the mega publishers of Activision and EA have largely destroyed many IPs and I applaud Bungie for ditching their overlord. I'm cautiously optimistic for their future and as a Destiny player I'm rooting for them all the way.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Now if Blizzard can just get out from underneath Activisions grasp.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

having/establishing a J.V with Activision was not a good thing from the get go. Reason why the community supported Bungie was for their dedication of making a good game. Activision on the other hand want nothing more than a walled garbage that only pleases their investors who got no interest in seeing a game IP getting positive feedback from real consumers who decides the game's worth with their wallets, not some mindless consumers who pays a ton for a game that heavily depends on pay-to-win model.

 

[chaosmassive]

the first good news in gaming industry since 2017, kudos to you Bungie !

 

[RCoon]

Acti-Blizzard is a holding company in which Activision and Blizzard are *partners*. Activision does not own Blizzard or vice versa. Blizzard, however, no longer has the same management at all, so it is no longer the Blizzard you once knew from 2004. Blame Blizzard's crappy practices on Blizzard, or even the shareholders, quite frankly, because they push for infinitely increasing revenue figures.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

with the co-founder leaving the company, things at Blizz is not going to look good. Probably inflicting harm to themselves for reasons unknown.

 

[Assimilator]

I wonder if this means Destiny 2 is actually going to become a game people want to play, or if it goes the other way with more microtransations and even less gameplay.

I don't know why more studios don't try what Digital Extremes did with Warframe, TBH.

 

[Vayra86]

I wonder if this means Destiny 2 is actually going to become a game people want to play, or if it goes the other way with more microtransations and even less gameplay.

I don't know why more studios don't try what Digital Extremes did with Warframe, TBH.

Nope. That won't happen... it has a game economy and tiered progression integral to the game and the playerbase is locked into that firmly. You need to reset a game economy to revitalize the game and the community, which means taking away all the nice things people have been grinding. That is what they essentially did going from Destiny 1 to Destiny 2 (something they never said they'd do, it was going to be a continuous, expanding universe before D1 launched).

Warframe is a good example: they don't do tiered progression at all, the only tiers that exist are the 10 ranks of your mod collection. And you can go about increasing those in every way you like. And to keep the economy fresh, they continuously 'reset' the metagame by improving the combat systems and mechanics (instead of adding new gear tiers) alongside a very minor power creep.

 

[Assimilator]

Nope. That won't happen... it has a game economy and tiered progression integral to the game and the playerbase is locked into that firmly. You need to reset a game economy to revitalize the game and the community, which means taking away all the nice things people have been grinding. That is what they essentially did going from Destiny 1 to Destiny 2 (something they never said they'd do, it was going to be a continuous, expanding universe before D1 launched).

Warframe is a good example: they don't do tiered progression at all, the only tiers that exist are the 10 ranks of your mod collection. And you can go about increasing those in every way you like. And to keep the economy fresh, they continuously 'reset' the metagame by improving the combat systems and mechanics (instead of adding new gear tiers) alongside a very minor power creep.

You also a Warframe player? Seems there are quite a few of us on these forums, I know @RCoon is too.

Anyway, regarding aping Warframe, I was talking more from a hypothetical viewpoint - Bungie has chosen a specify destiny (HAHA I'M SO CLEVER) for its game which as you point out, has very much tied its hands.

 

[Vayra86]

You also a Warframe player? Seems there are quite a few of us on these forums, I know @RCoon is too.

Anyway, regarding aping Warframe, I was talking more from a hypothetical viewpoint - Bungie has chosen a specify destiny (HAHA I'M SO CLEVER) for its game which as you point out, has very much tied its hands.

Well, Warframe player... I've got my share of hours in it and return briefly from time to time But I didn't even play Fortuna yet...

 

[ZoneDymo]

Well, Warframe player... I've got my share of hours in it and return briefly from time to time But I didn't even play Fortuna yet...

Well its really not that interesting, just Plains 1.2 tbh, but I guess worth checking out a bit.
Im looking forward to this year, Space battle, more events, just bit more hopefully oldschool stuff.