Activision and Bungie are ending their Destiny partnership after eight years, the two companies announced. Bungie will acquire the full rights to the massive first-person shooter franchise from Activision and plans on self-publishing all future Destiny content.
The companies released a joint statement announcing the development:
Today, we’re announcing plans for Bungie to assume full publishing rights and responsibilities for the Destiny franchise. Going forward, Bungie will own and develop the franchise, and Activision will increase its focus on owned IP and other projects. Activision and Bungie are committed to a seamless transition for the Destiny franchise and will continue to work closely together during the transition on behalf of the community of Destiny players around the world.
The deal was originally meant to run through 2020 and feature four full Destiny games and as many expansions. Obviously, that timeline didn’t quite pan out. The original Destiny saw its release pushed from 2013 to 2014, and rather than make a new game right away, Bungie worked on four expansions. Destiny 2 would arrive three years after the original in 2017 and has since received three expansions of its own.
Bungie released a post discussing the end of the publishing deal with Activision. “We have enjoyed a successful eight-year run and would like to thank Activision for their partnership on Destiny. Looking ahead, we’re excited to announce plans for Activision to transfer publishing rights for Destiny to Bungie. With our remarkable Destiny community, we are ready to publish on our own, while Activision will increase their focus on owned IP projects,” Bungie said.
Bungie also pledged that the future of the franchise is still bright despite this major change. “With Forsaken, we’ve learned, and listened, and leaned in to what we believe our players want from a great Destiny experience. Rest assured there is more of that on the way. We’ll continue to deliver on the existing Destiny roadmap, and we’re looking forward to releasing more seasonal experiences in the coming months, as well as surprising our community with some exciting announcements about what lies beyond.”
As far as Destiny 2 for PC, which is hosted on Activision Blizzard’s Battle.net, there are no plans to remove the game from the service, according to Bungie.
Bungie previously broke away from Microsoft when developing the Halo franchise in 2007, but Microsoft retained the rights to Xbox staple. Now, Bungie will go at it alone, developing and publishing all future Destiny content. Last year, the studio received a $100 million investment from NetEase, a Chinese technology company, to help develop future Bungie game franchises.
