In a surprise announcement today, Bungie wrote in a blog post that it will be separating from Activision. The Destiny franchise, which has sold over 50 million games and expansions worldwide to date, will come under Bungie’s sole ownership.
“We have enjoyed a successful eight-year run and would like to thank Activision for their partnership on Destiny,” wrote the Bungie development team. “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.”
There have been rumored tensions between the two companies, especially in regards to having an annual game or expansion release schedule. And even though the Destiny 2: Forsaken expansion was well received by players, Activision was disappointed by its sales, as stated during an earnings call in November.
Freed from this schedule, Bungie is able to take destiny into their own hands — so to speak.
The company wrote, “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.”
The transfer of publishing rights is still in its early phases, and it still remains to be seen how a self-published Destiny 2 will play like. We look forward to finding out.
The original Destiny released in 2014 for consoles to high critical acclaim. Its sequel launched in 2017 for both consoles and PCs. Destiny 2 has received multiple expansions, add-ons, and content, with the most recent being the Black Armory Bergusia Forge, available as part of the current annual pass.
