Bungie goes indie with Destiny after surprise split with publisher Activision
Bungie has announced that it has left its long-term partnership with Activision, retaining the rights to Destiny in the process.
This shocking news came in the late hours of last night for UK players, as rumours began swirling on social media that a major announcement was due from the studio.
And these were right, as the announcement saw Bungie retain the rights to continue development on Destiny 2 and will now self publish the popular online shooter.
“We have enjoyed a successful eight-year run and would like to thank Activision for their partnership on Destiny,” Bungie said in a blog post.
“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.”
Prior to the game’s first release, Bungie and Activision had negotiated a ten-year deal with the Destiny franchise, although recent developments seemingly made this hard to sustain.
Criticisms were put at Bungie’s feet regarding the game’s lacking sales, leaving many to fear that Activision would heighten microtransactions and detract from the hardcore audience Bungie had been targeting with Forsaken.
Destiny 2 and its respective expansions will continue to operate on PS4, Xbox One and PC (via Battle Net), and will fulfil the roadmap already set out in recent months. Once this has concluded, the studio will no longer be abiding by the annual schedule set out by Activision.
“We’ll continue to deliver on the existing Destiny roadmap, and we’re looking forward to releasing more seasonal experiences in the coming months,” Bungie said, “as well as surprising our community with some exciting announcements about what lies beyond.”
At the time of writing, Bungie also has a new title in development following a $100 million investment by NetEase, although this is yet to be revealed at all.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
