I beg to differ. Surely most of this is Activision's terms.
Activision is way too savvy for some of these conditions to not be written by them.
Of course Activision had some say so in the contract, no company would sign anything that was purely one-sided, they do want to gain something from this agreement as well.
However reading it so far, it seems like Bungie had a set of requirements they weren't willing to bend on. On top of this, it looks like Bungie has some say so in actions that Activision would also take on their property (such as the porting conditions).
Basically what I'm saying is that this contract is more for Bungie to gain and almost nothing to lose, where Activision is taking the larger bet and all the risk.
MS loaned Rockstar $50 million in exchange for timed exclusivity for the GTA episodes. The perception of being "first" and "best" in the eyes of consumers is very important in the early years of a console's life. MS is probably banking that few of Bungie's fans is going to wait a year for a PS3 port that obviously won't be as good as the 720 version.
Yes, and you would think such a loan would be detailed in this contract, which it isn't, at least with what I've read so far.
Assuming I'm understanding everything correctly so far, the contract says: No compromises to their original version will be made for the sake of multi-platform development, technical analysis of the PS3 version will be made to make sure that version can reach feature parity in all aspects and this analysis should have been finished by January 31, 2011, and commercial analysis should have been done by March 31, 2011.
Basically Bungie planned their original vision for the game based on the platform they already know and are taking a no compromise approach with it's development. Even though it's safe to say the PS3 version would hit feature/tech/content parity, they did not wish to make any commitments on an unfamiliar platform before conducting their analysis.
In no way do I see how "moneyhatting" fits into any of these factors. They want to make the game they want to make without bending to the will of the publisher.
Edit:
Bungie isn't just any independent developer. Halo was the shit for many years and to this day its still a powerful franchise. Their name probably enabled them to negotiate these great rates but c'mon. This is easily one of the most restrictive demanding contracts any developer has ever had.
It's a contract that Bungie agreed to and had a part in the creation of. Also, before you make claims to restrictive demands, you should really look into requirements other developers have to face first. Bungie has full creative control, full ownership over IP, influence in the porting process of their IP, and that's all on top of the financial benefits they have Activision agreeing to.
Other developers have it MUCH worse.