Article:
Bungie Partners with Activision

Bungie, lead developer of the Halo franchise, has stunned many followers of its work by entering partnership with Activision today. The news, which was released today, confirms information of Bungie’s complete separation from the Microsoft brand. Activision, who has been more known to release titles such as Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk over the past couple of years, entered a 10 Year publishing deal with Bungie after the former Microsoft Studios developer left Microsoft headquarters in 2007, following the release of Halo 3. At the time, it was understood that Microsoft would still be in control of Bungie's developments, and more importantly the ‘Halo’ brand, however the recent development and partnership with Activision means that Bungie's development over the past 3 years has been focusing on completing its final Halo: Reach game before completing partnership with Activision.

Bungie, who plans to release Halo: Reach this winter on the Microsoft Xbox 360, will release the game within partnership with its publisher Microsoft Game Studios, which will most likely be its last interaction with the studio. It has been previously confirmed that this will be the last title it will produce from the Halo franchise. The studio has worked alongside Microsoft’s development cycle since it was bought out by Microsoft in 2000, nearly a year after it has announced the first Halo game. After the buyout, Microsoft geared Bungie to produce Halo as a launch title for its current in-development Xbox console. Bungie's tactics moved away from producing the title solely for the Windows and Macintosh system, which it was originally intended, and move directly to the home console platform Microsoft was developing.

The deal, which has been announced will last around 10 years, will see Bungie create the ‘next big action game universe’ according to Activision. The deal also announces that the publisher will release the titles on multiple platforms, which means Bungie will have to consider its gaming mechanics to broader platforms than the Xbox 360 and Windows operating system.

The news of the partnership comes as a relief for Activision who is currently stuck in a legal battle with ex-Infinity Ward employees over unpaid royalties for its Call of Duty title Modern Warfare 2. Activision seems to have lost one brand leader in Infinity Ward for Call of Duty and gained another in Bungie Studios for Halo. Whether Activision can weather the storm and come out bright on the other side of the on-going legal battle with ex-Infinity  Ward employees is a problem, but don’t been surprised if we unfortunately see Guitar Hero: Halo Edition or Master Chief Skate Boarding coming to all platforms this winter.