Bungie Has Made Their Last Halo and gets in bed with Activision
I was searching more Halo news this morning as I wait for the Reach Beta to download on Monday, when I stumbled onto some news that might change the face of the video game industry.
Bungie just signed a Ten Year Publishing deal with Activision.
What does this mean?
Well the answer depends on who you ask. However, I’m writing this, so you get my opinion. Two major things will happen to Bungie, and something completely different will happen with Halo.
Activision is the producer behind the largest Media release in the history of human kind. Forget Avatar, MW2 set a new profit bar for any release of a piece of media… film, music, or game. The major player behind that was Activision. The release of MW2 scared any other video game manufacturer/developer… including the iconic Bungie. Up till now, Bungie has only created a game for One platform… Xbox, and that is controlled by Super Nerd Bill Gates. Bungie has done well for themselves considering the size of the xbox market… but it is easy to say that the market for them has been saturated… and they want a piece of what Infinity Ward baked up with MW2. As a result though three major things will happen with Bungie both not being bad:
- The gameplay will be created for cross platforms, so expect games from Bungie for Wii, Playstation, and possibly Xbox(depending on how Bill feels)
- Bungie will be more of a tool of business and decisions will be made focusing on profit rather than Beautiful Programing, which means there will be more things you will WANT to pay for, but you will have to pay.
- None of Bungie’s Games will have anything to do with Halo…which is really weird for me.
However, Halo will continue… we have not seen the last of Master Chief nor the Spartan armor.
Microsoft has created a new division of game developement called 343 Industries, tasked with the creation and management of everything Halo. This of course means that instead of seeing it on a cross platform release like Bungie’s new games… you will only be seeing it on Microsoft products.
In addition, I have a hard time believing that the Halo Movie will be coming out soon. 343 Industries has stated that they will release a movie when the “Time is Right.” Which is positive but never definitive. Now that the software giant has its talons on it tight, they will do whatever it takes to boost the profit in profit veins their used to… such as more games… maybe a Mega Multiplayer Online??
But how does this hit you? You think this is good? Is there a movie coming out and I don’t know crap? Let us know!!
Diehard GameFAN | Bungie Signs Ten Year Publishing Deal With Activision.
Tags: Activision, bungie, halo
Hmmm… this is a tough one to call. This brings to mind a couple of scenarios:
* Squaresoft jumping ship from Nintendo’s platform to Sony’s *
Squaresoft’s flagship Final Fantasy series being exclusive to Sony’s PlayStation catapulted the console to the top of the video game market. Squaresoft created fantastic games and the PSOne and the PS2 dominated the world video game market for what, a decade?
On the other hand…
* Rare jumping ship from Nintendo’s platform to Microsoft’s *
From the NES to the N64, Rare made INCREDIBLE games. R.C. Pro Am, Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Goldeneye 007, and Perfect Dark come to mind, but check out their gameography and just count the number of classic titles in the list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rare_games
For some reason Rare lost some of its developer magic creating games for the Xbox 360. Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero were lukewarmly received and their most recent titles are ports of old N64 games to XBLA. Now, what was once a revered software developer is just a tiny blip on the gaming radar.
I think what will make or break Bungie is whether or not they can come up with a *great* new IP working under Activision, or whether Activision gives them an existing IP with which they do great things.
Halo will probably be fine in the hands of Microsoft. Maybe they’ll give the franchise to Rare. Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark ruled the console FPS market in the 64-bit era. Maybe they can recapture that spark with the Halo…
Totally agree with the world being wide open for the next first person shooter leader… 3D maybe?????