Bungie to assume full publishing rights to the Destiny franchise
Bungie announced today it has gained full publishing rights to the Destiny franchise. Activision will shift its focus to publishing wholly owned IP and other projects.
The Destiny franchise will be published by Bungie going forward, the studio announced today. Activision stated Destiny 2 will still receive full support on BattleNet, and Blizzard assures there won't be any "disruption to services or gameplay experience."
Because this is breaking news, we've posted official word from Bungie straight from the source.
Here's the announcement:
When we first launched our partnership with Activision in 2010, the gaming industry was in a pretty different place. As an independent studio setting out to build a brand new experience, we wanted a partner willing to take a big leap of faith with us. We had a vision for Destiny that we believed in, but to launch a game of that magnitude, we needed the support of an established publishing partner.
With Activision, we created something special. To date, Destiny has delivered a combination of over 50 million games and expansions to players all around the world. More importantly, we’ve also witnessed a remarkable community – tens of millions of Guardians strong – rise up and embrace Destiny, to play together, to make and share memories, and even to do truly great things that reach far beyond the game we share, to deliver a positive impact on people’s everyday lives.
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.
The planned transition process is already underway in its early stages, with Bungie and Activision both committed to making sure the handoff is as seamless as possible.
With Forsaken, we’ve learned, and listened, and leaned in to what we believe our players want from a great Destiny experience. Rest assured there is more of that on the way. We’ll continue to deliver on the existing Destiny roadmap, and we’re looking forward to releasing more seasonal experiences in the coming months, as well as surprising our community with some exciting announcements about what lies beyond.
Thank you so much for your continued support. Our success is owed in no small part to the incredible community of players who have graced our worlds with light and life. We know self-publishing won’t be easy; there’s still much for us to learn as we grow as an independent, global studio, but we see unbounded opportunities and potential in Destiny. We know that new adventures await us all on new worlds filled with mystery, adventure, and hope. We hope you’ll join us there.
Activision released a brief statement regarding transfer of the publishing rights on Twitter:
The company will post its Q4 and year end results on February 12. We expect to hear more in-depth information on relinquishing the publishing rights at that time - at least from a financial standpoint.
Activision announced in 2010 it had signed a 10-year deal with Bungie to publish Destiny. The contract was an "exclusive 10-year partnership, with Activision holding exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the IP."
With the deal signed, Bungie still remained an independent company, and unlike Halo, retained ownership of the Destiny IP.Today's announcement, as noted above, noted the deal ended two years short of the contract.
Last summer, Bungie and NetEase announced $100 million investment deal in the Destiny 2 studio. The firm said it planned to use the funds to self-publish new titles, which will now include Destiny 2, we imagine.