A New Destiny for Bungie
Bungie and Activision had a working partnership with the Destiny series for several years. The former established themselves as a formidable developer by creating the Halo series for Microsoft, of which they handled five installments, ending with Halo Reach on Xbox 360. (Development was taken over by 343 Industries afterward.) They were big enough that Activision was happy to establish a relationship with them for a so-called live service game, a title best played with others online. Thanks to the combination of its quality and an aggressive marketing budget, Destiny did incredibly well, despite issues that affected the game early on. It also performed well enough to receive a sequel, aptly named Destiny 2.
The franchise helped make Bungie even more valuable than before, and their split with Activision to go independent is the biggest evidence of that. Both companies involved did their best to make this sound amicable, with Bungie mentioning how valuable the partnership was, and Activision providing one of support for them and their future endeavors. But it’s easy to believe that the relationship between the two became a little rocky for a couple of reasons.
The Destiny series has mostly been a success, sure, but there were recent signs of trouble. Activision mentioned during an earnings call in early November that they weren’t satisfied with the sales of expansion Destiny 2: Forsaken. That’s a pity, because several players who previously expressed disappointment with the Destiny 2 package prior to the expansion’s release felt Forsaken was when the game came into its own, and overall complaints were reduced.
The apparent sales made it clear that not everyone was interested in purchasing it, but Activision promised investors that the game would receive new forms of monetization to compensate. This was enough for everyone enjoying the expansion to roll their eyes, and it’s possible Bungie was right there with them after seeing how several prior skeptics were now enjoying the product. That’s one potential reason for why the split happened now, but Kotaku also included a tidbit in their story about how Bungie wasn’t a fan of Activision’s mandate for one sequel or expansion a year. As an independent company, they’ll no longer have to follow that schedule.
Speaking of issues with Activision: There’s no way they aren’t aware of what’s happening with Blizzard lately. Activision didn’t own Bungie, so there’s no way they could exert as much power with them as they could with Blizzard, but there are several actions they could have taken to upset Bungie’s staff — including the desire to add more monetization schemes. Bungie likely feels they’re getting out at the right time, even though the fact that they’re sticking with Battle.net shows how both companies don’t actively dislike each other.
In fact, this ends up being a best-case scenario for them. Unlike other developers who’ve split from publishers they worked with, Bungie will take the rights to the Destiny IP, and control all decisions being made from here on. With this, players are hoping they’ll be able to implement more features they want, while not having to worry about a big publisher that’s ready to intervene if they get too friendly. This isn’t to say Bungie won’t have any further stumbles with this game and subsequent projects from here on, because it would be naïve to think so, but they should avoid the worst-case scenarios.
Bungie will continue to work on Destiny 2 from here on, though whether that will include another large expansion remains to be seen, especially considering they no longer have a restrictive schedule to follow. But in the future, they might be able to handle other projects in addition to continuing to develop this title — potentially ones smaller than Destiny. This will depend on whether they have enough staffers to work with them, which they’ll be able to hire after some time as a success as an independent developer. They’ll of course have help from companies like Chinese internet corporation NetEase, which pumped a $100 million investment into the company to help it grow.
Hopefully that will be enough for Bungie to handle everything themselves. They won’t have a problem developing further DLC for Destiny 2, and an eventual third installment. But they won’t have the marketing prowess they could count on with Activision assisting them. I’ll assume they’re taking this time to hire a good marketing team for their future projects, which will be necessary not only for the Destiny brand, but other potential franchises they’ll want to establish themselves. Bungie’s future will be worth keeping a close eye on from here, and hopefully they’ll expound upon what they’ll do differently with the franchise thanks to their independence soon.
Meanwhile, we’ll see if Activision replaces the franchise with something else of their own, perhaps a shooter called “Fate.” They might also choose to stick with Call of Duty, franchises from Blizzard and King, and other remasters. My money is on the latter scenario playing out.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
