In surprising, but not entirely unexpected, news, word has just come down that Activision and Halo and Destiny developer Bungie are splitting. Bungie will be retaining the rights to Destiny and will, presumably, continue on as an independent entity (at least for now). The split has been reported by reliable Kotaku insider Jason Schreier, who began hinting something big was about to go down only minutes ago…
Thinking about this today… https://t.co/VrCKyxBFvV
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 10, 2019
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Here’s what I know for certain: Bungie has a team meeting in a few minutes. The buzz around the studio is that it’s “good news” for them. I’ve heard rumors about what it might be, but I don’t have enough details to want to share just yet. More coming shortly.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 10, 2019
Bungie has confirmed the news in a blog post:
“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.”
According to Schreier, tensions between Bungie and Activision have been long-simmering, with the former wanting Destiny to appeal to hardcore shooter and MMO fans, while the latter pushed for a more mainstream approach. In recent months, Activision has openly expressed dissatisfaction with the sales and engagement numbers for Destiny 2, leading some to suspect some sort of breaking point might be imminent, but a full-on divorce is nonetheless a shock.
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Word is, those at Bungie are looking at this break as a positive thing, with staff cheering loudly when the news was announced. It will certainly be interesting to see what comes next. Will Bungie continue on as an independent entity, or could they perhaps rekindle their old relationship with Microsoft? What do you think the studio’s next step might be?
Destiny 2 is available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
Update: For those asking, it seems Destiny 2 will continue to use Battle.net following the Activision-Bungie breakup…
Destiny 2 will still receive full support on BattleNet and we do not anticipate any disruption to our services or your gameplay experience. https://t.co/FFOE1iae3R
— BlizzardCS (@BlizzardCS) January 10, 2019
