Bungie ends partnership with Activision, will now self-publish games

Bungie has had two major partnerships with gaming giants over their tenure in the industry. They rose to fame when they became owned by Microsoft and spent roughly a decade making acclaimed Halo games and in borderline earth-shattering news, it was revealed Reach would be their last Halo title.

They were moving on to bigger and better things, splitting from Microsoft, and partnering with Activision to publish their new MMO-like title, Destiny. Destiny was set to be a hugely ambitious title with multi-year support, a rich universe with story, characters, and the fun gameplay Bungie’s known for.

While Destiny has been very successful and even beloved by some hardcore fans, there has been a lot of criticism focused on the content of the series and feeling lackluster. Rumors have circulated over the years there’s been a lot of influence from Activision to make the game in a specific way that Bungie wasn’t fully on board with, creating a less than stellar product.

Kotaku reports that when Bungie broke the news to their employees today, it was framed as an exciting new step for the company and reportedly some popped champagne and cheered now they’re free of their corporate overlord.

“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 today. “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.”

Activision also mandated a new substantial Destiny release every fall whether it be a big expansion or a whole new game, creating immense pressure for the studio. Bungie will no longer feel obligated to release content like this and will be moving forward at a pace they’re comfortable with.

“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.”

While it’s presumed that Bungie will continue building the Destiny franchise through more games, Bungie is also working on a new IP which we really know nothing about right now.

Destiny 2 will remain on Battle.net for PC owners and nothing will change