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Activision/Bungie game revealed by court (4 MMO sci-fantasy FPSs, more) [OP Updated]
- Thread starter V_Ben
- Start date
Being completely ignorant about the deals in the videogame industry, 20% to 30% of operating income of a multi-million franchise (potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue) sounds like enormous royalties to me.
So yes, possibly it was the best deal in terms of money.
Man, wow, nobody realized that it was Bungie we were talking about at all. It's kind of like if Sony said fuck you to consumers, PS3 is 599 USD at launch and we can sell 5 million units even if we didn't release a game for it.
Actually, Bungies best work is done under pressure with limited time.
Halo CE and ODST.
Watch the vidocs for halo 2 and 3. They spent most of their time having LAN nights.
This. Marathon is by far the most interesting part of this bit of news.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
Holy shit!!! It's so good to get news on this. Can't wait to delve into this thread more when I'm not sitting on the toilet using my iPod.
I H8 Memes
Member
If they aren't all going to be on PC then I don't want any of them.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
Sho_Nuff82
Member
Bungie makes great FPS, and due to Bungie.net and Waypoint, they know their audience better than most devs. If anything I'd be more worried about them changing genres. Their success had nothing to with luck, they consistently released some of the best sp/mp shooters on the market.
And why the grief about 4 games in 8 years? They did 4 Halo releases plus one expansion in 9 years, Naughty Dog released the uncharted trilogy in 07-11, Epic did the Gears trilogy in 06-11, Sony SM did GoW quadrilogy in less than a decade, Forza series has all been the past 9 years, etc.
We are seriously going to find out how much weight their name holds without Halo when this game does arrive.
About the Marathon part, Bungie will be able to allocate any % of their total staff after 1K Million in Operating Income has been achieved. 25% between 0.75K an 1K.
How many Destiny games / expansions do they need to achieve this? I guess we can more or less deduce Bungie's expectations for Marathon's development schedule and release.
How many Destiny games / expansions do they need to achieve this? I guess we can more or less deduce Bungie's expectations for Marathon's development schedule and release.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
makes me wonder if this IS Titan or if it will actually compete against Titan.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Maybe they felt guilty?
Lol, who am I kidding? It was moneyhats. MS has moneyhatted some weird shit in their day. (exclusive features in that stupid UFC trainer game? lol) They'd definitely moneyhat this.
That sure seems like a lot of work for a studio like Bungie.
They've been a platform exclusive studio with three year development cycles, now they have to support 4-5 platforms (360, 720, possibly PS3, PC, PS4) with eight years of planned annualized releases (games/expansion packs) on top of other stuff ("other DLC, microtransactions, value added services"). They've got their work cut out for them.
They've been a platform exclusive studio with three year development cycles, now they have to support 4-5 platforms (360, 720, possibly PS3, PC, PS4) with eight years of planned annualized releases (games/expansion packs) on top of other stuff ("other DLC, microtransactions, value added services"). They've got their work cut out for them.
HigherLevel
Member
Marathon 4 should be a bigger deal. Put it in the thread title or make a thread or something. I can't wait to play that. It's awesome living in a world with Halo 4 coming, Marathon 4 coming, and a completely new IP from Bungie. Halo/Bungie fans got it good for the next few years it appears.
I don't know if this will compete with Blizzard's Titan, but I doubt they are the same thing.
I think that there are quite a lot of clues in the industry that point towards different flavours of FPS/RPG hybrids in MMO-ish environments (persistent) as "the next big thing". Those already exist, but I predict they will dominate the market in the next 10 years.
It's only a prototype developed by very few employees, no ?
Ken Masters
Banned
Seems like activision has bungie by the balls, the game has to sell 5 million copies in 6 months or it can cancel the contract? Geez
HigherLevel
Member
There doesn't appear to be a question of it potentially not being completed though, at least from what I gather.
I H8 Memes
Member
There are some questionable clauses in there (such as tying Gamerankings scores to bonus payments), but that did not strike me as unreasonable. The entire relationship is predicated on Destiny being a sizable hit: Activision is forking over a huge amount of funding for the project; Bungie is a large developer with a huge cash burn rate, and Destiny is a long-term project. If the first installment is not as successful as hoped, Activision can cut their losses (or suboptimal ROI) and move their funding elsewhere. That seems like a pretty sensible severance clause for a major publisher funding a proposed series of games.
One thing is for sure, Bungie is betting the company on the success of Destiny with the fanbase they accumulated with Halo. It can be tough to get new IP to hit those levels, even well funded ones from established studios and major publishers. It's a very big risk by both Bungie and Activision.
I have little doubt the project will be quality - it's Bungie - but I hope it pays off. Certainly sounds great.
Activision had the option of shitcanning, but yeah. What a sad, sad clause. At least they went with Gamerankings for Destiny!
Sounds like Bungie are a dishonest bunch of fucks. The timing of that rumor about the layoffs is around the same time the contract states that all resources must be positioned to development on new title. The rumor email claims that reasons for termination was really based on publisher budget reasons and not 'performance related'.
And we all know what Bungie said about that, denying it, saying how great it is to work there. Liars the lot of them, but most business people are scum you wouldn't imagine.
And we all know what Bungie said about that, denying it, saying how great it is to work there. Liars the lot of them, but most business people are scum you wouldn't imagine.
bigtroyjon
Member
Bungie stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars if this game is a huge hit and Activision is taking on 100% of the financial risk. Great deal for Bungie as long as the project is something they are passionate about. (and I doubt they do this deal in the first place if they didn't want to commit themselves to the game)
CarbonatedFalcon
Member
Anyone else think there might be player (if not development/creative) fatigue with Bungie pumping out so much stuff in a relatively short period of time? Not that it will necessarily be bad.
Though I suppose this doesn't matter for the rare franchise (e.g. Call of Duty).
Though I suppose this doesn't matter for the rare franchise (e.g. Call of Duty).
Infinite Justice
Member
Given the amount of content and the timeframe for each it looks like they are.
We'll see how this goes though.
HigherLevel
Member
So just wondering, say if Activision dropped this if it doesn't reach the goals they want, could another publisher pick the game up? Like MS making a publishing deal with them without owning them again?
Sho_Nuff82
Member
I'd imagine they went to Activision in the first place because MS didn't want to publish a AAA fps not named Halo in the holiday window. If the game flops under Activision, I don't see that changing.
BlindSwordsmanZ
Member
Also: PS3/PS4 versions.
bigtroyjon
Member
They are releasing the 360 version of the game next fall per the contract, they are also going to look into releasing a PS3 version by 2014 but there isn't anything in the contract that would exclude them from releasing the PS3 version in 2013 if they could get it ready.
It just specifies that they aren't required to release both in 2013.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
???
The only reason it doesn't have the Halo name attached to it is that it's not published by Microsoft.
:LOL
ClovingWestbrook
Banned
Wow.
OldJadedGamer
Banned
Like Naughty Dog went from Crash to Jak to Uncharted. Good developers make good games regardless of the IP.
Defniteley yes, it is explicitely stated in the contract.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
Breaking away from the ip frees them from a lot of the story/location/technology restraints. MS likely would have had them on Halo 4/5/6 as long as they remained profitable. A chance to create a fresh universe with a new aesthetic was probably a big part (though the money definitely is as well).
bigtroyjon
Member
If Activision drops it then Bungie would retain all rights to the ip and assets and could take it somewhere else. The one caveat is that Activision would retain rights to any games already released for the period of 2 years.
Bungie would also receive a royalty free license to use any Activision IP that are used in any games under development when they cancel the deal.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
Lol, sure dude.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
If they really cared about freshness, would they be doing another space FPS?
They could easily do something in the Halo IP and set it on another planet/artifact in another time. Halo 4 may be more fresh than Destiny, lol.