Activision proudly announced today that it has entered into a ten-year agreement with Bungie, the developer of Oni, Myst, Marathon and the Halo-series. Bungie had been an independent studio since 2007, when it separated from Microsoft. Under the current agreement, Activision will have exclusive publishing and distribution rights to all future games that are to be developed by Bungie for multiple platforms. The developer itself will remain independent and continues to hold complete control over their future intellectual property.
The final game that is set to be published by former-owner Microsoft, Halo: Reach, will be released later this year. The rights to the Halo-franchise remain with Microsoft.
Nice move to get press away from the Infinity Ward lawsuits, should be interesting to see what Bungie can put out for the company. And its nice to see their skills finally going to multi-platform use.
Bungie definitely has the upper hand in the deal. The rights to the franchise will remain with Bungie… so if a falling out happens between the two companies, Bungie can just sit on the franchise till the 10 year publishing contract is up.
I am interested, but in all actuality, Bungie doesn’t have a long track record of solid franchises. I enjoyed Oni… but it was pretty bad. Marathon were ok.
And the last third party developer making popular games for Microsoft leaves exclusivity…
Is this the final nail in the coffin for microsoft’s pos system: The XBox 360? Only time will tell!
But this reporter is optimistic!
I don’t think there is much reason to refer to the 360 as a piece of shit… It’s just a console… and millions of people, including myself, are having a ton of fun with it.
From a pure hardware perspective, it *IS* a piece of shit. It had a FORTY PERCENT first year failure rate. It continues to have a 40% first year failure rate.
Whether you like the software for it or not, you can’t argue that the hardware itself is garbage.
ANYTHING with that high of a failure rate is garbage.
Well, since this article is software related (Bungie itself has nothing to do with hardware), I thought your “piece of shit” statement referred to the console from a software perspective. Nevertheless, I don’t think any console is ripe for a coffin (aside from those RROD-coffins that are now on sale). Even in a next generation, as long as backwards compatibility remains an option, current 360 users will have an interest in purchasing a new Microsoft console.
Aaaanyway, I don’t think the loss of Bungie will mean much for the 360 in terms of competitiveness. Also, it isn’t anything new. It was already clear for a long time that Bungie would no longer produce exclusively for Microsoft, aside from Halo: Reach. This news just means that they’re actively working on multiplatform titles and have managed to get a publishing deal for it, which in itself isn’t surprising seeing as Bungie is quite a high-profile developer.
Microsoft isn’t stupid, and they probably aren’t giving up on the console-war yet. So they’ll probably purchase another studio, set one up, or in general, come up with something to start a new franchise.
Edit: To address your actual point: yes, it’s a nightmare hardware-wise. Whether it actually bothers you is a separate issue though. Yes, you lose your console for about 10 days, but I can live with that. Those other 390 of the (first generation) lifespan provide just as much fun as any other console. So yes, it’s really bad hardwarewise, but that doesn’t really bother me to be honest. Though it may be superior hardwarewise, I just don’t have the money or space available for a PS3 to remedy these issues.
10 days if you’re in the US, anyone outside the US could have to wait up to 6 weeks.
But I’m glad your 360 has given you fun… mine has given me maybe 10 hours thereof… in 6 months… if my wife hadn’t wanted it(and she played it for maybe 1.5-2 times as much time as I did), I would’ve probably never bought it…
As to money or space… my ps3 slim takes up the exact same amount as my x360 does, and its retail value is the same here… 😉
What made your Wife want to get a 360? I’m curious because I’m assuming it was something unique to the 360 that you didn’t think was worth while. I’m wonder where the gamer type split is there.
she wanted to play fable 2… but then got sick of it very promptly.