By now most people have heard of Bungie's recently announced 10-year deal with Activision. Bungie stated that the deal had been in the works for about 9 months already. It was somewhat ironic that it was announced around the time that Activision was talking about shutting down Infinity Ward after the next Modern Warfare 2 map pack is completed. Bungie also stated that the deal was long overdue because it will give them the freedom to focus on something other than Halo games. The company is said to be working on a game series that is much larger than the Halo series; possibly an RPG. Bungie has said that this deal will not affect the upcoming blockbuster title Halo: Reach. They are putting all their heart and effort into the supposed last Halo game. With this new deal, Bungie will have complete control and power over their projects. Really all they do is tell Activision how much money they need to make the game and Activision will make it happen. According to Bungie, this freedom was very necessary for their next game, seeing as they didn't have this much freedom with the Halo games because Microsoft owns the rights to the Halo series. I'm not sure what to make of this new deal with Activision. I like the idea of Bungie creating a new and more personal IP game but it makes me concerned given the demise of Infinity Ward which used to be one of the kings in developing FPS games. I like the idea of Bungie taking a different route in their next game and not even considering the idea of making an FPS. What was everyone's reaction to Bungie's deal with Activision?
Not really that big of a fan of Halo, nor am I really a big fan of MW2, though I can say Bungie is good at creating games, just hasn't really been a story I can get into but hopefully they can change it around for me.
Asking a publisher how much money is needed for creating a game? Promising a release date? Sales bonus control? I've seen it before with Infinity Ward (Activision) and 3DRealms (Take2), I wonder if it really comes to freedom in an industry that's all about the money, especially in the eyes of the publisher. Though I know Bungie is very skilled at things like that so they won't be in much trouble, I guess..