Archangel Tyrael Posted May 22, 2012 Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 Not strictly Halo related, but in the Venn diagram that is videogame fans, I'm sure there is a substantial overlap between the circles that represent Halo and Bungie. In a peculiar twist of the West Zampella vs Avtivision case, the details of Bungie's deal with Activision have been made public. The reasoning behind the reveal seems to be the court's need to compare similar deals between Activision and top developers. Read on for more, but bear in mind there are spoilers, if you're wanting to keep Bungie's next game a surprise it may be wise to avoid this article. The whole contract can be downloaded and read > here <, but I have to warn you that it's heavy going with lots of obtuse legal speak. Some key points from the document: Destiny will be a Massively Multiplayer like, sci-fantasy action shooter. Games will release in alternate years - 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 Expansion packs (codenamed Comet) will release in between in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 The first Destiny game will be an Xbox 360 and "Xbox 720" exclusive at launch, but may appear on PS4 in Fall 2014 following a "technical feasibility analysis" The games will be boxed retail games, but the contract accepts that boxed retail may evolve during the life of the franchise to online downloads. The contract includes DLC, subscriptions, microtransactions, and other "value added services". Activision and Bungie are considering a PS3 version of the first game in 2014, but this may change based on next gen console plans of Sony and Microsoft. The second Destiny game, scheduled for a 2015 release is said to be releasing on 360, 720, PS4, and Windows PC. Destiny will aim for a Teen/PEGI 16 rating. Activision can terminate the contract without penalty if Destiny doesn't sell at least 5,000,000 units in the first six months, or for any reason they please after the second expansion pack releases. Interestingly, there were also several spent clauses regarding the sales and aggregate review scores of Halo: Reach. The document also confirms that Bungie is working on a Marathon game, but states that no more than 5% of Bungie staff can work on it. and the amount of employees that can work on it goes up slowly as they hit cumulative profit goals. There are also limits on when Bungie can release Marathon. For specifics on this see the contract images at the bottom since it's pretty lengthy. There is a suggestion that Destiny could feature in-game GMs (Game Masters) this is fairly standard for MMOs and persistent world games, but interesting nonetheless and gives us an insight into the scope of the game. Bungie have a budget of $1,000,000 for "pre-beta marketing", which can be spent on things such as "the creation of ViDocs and marketing assets and executions consistent with its expertise and historical practice." Bungie will receive a healthy share of the income (not profits!): 20% on the first $100m, 24% between $100m and $400m, and then 35% of anything over $400m. In real numbers, if Destiny's revenues hit $500m (which you'd expect they will comfortably), Bungie will see $127,000,000 of it. HO-LY ****. If the game misses release date these numbers will fall by 10%. Bungie will receive $25m bonuses at both $750m and $1bn operating income. Bungie will also receive a $2.5 million bonus if Destiny achieves a GameRankings rating of 90 or higher on Xbox 360. That's all I've gleaned from a first pass of the document, I'll keep reading and update if I find anything interesting. It goes without saying that this is an absolute bombshell and a remarkable insight into the behind the scenes working of game publishing. Incredible stuff. UPDATE from Bungie: Bungie just posted a very short message, confirming this as true (but we sort of knew that anyway): http://www.bungie.net/news/content.aspx?type=news&cid=32112 Well, that just happened… So, yeah. While we’re not ready to show you what we’ve been working on, we can reconfirm that we are hard at work on our new universe. We can’t wait for you to see it. See you starside in 2013. http://www.littleenglishhaloblog.com/2012/05/details-emerge-on-bungies-next-game.html 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carts Posted May 22, 2012 Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 I think they should have 3 years to develop. 2 years is what a CoD game gets... And we all know how those turn out compaired to each other... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPARTAN 117 Posted May 22, 2012 Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 SWEET BEJEEZUS!!! that is alot of revenue circulating around one game. I guess Bungie and Activision expect good sales (i know i will contribute) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Shadowz Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Activison always expects good sells. And with the money they have to throw around, Bungie has endless possibilities when it comes to game development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undead Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 OH YEAH! Bungie is an amazing company. I cannot wait until their next game comes out. 343industries will win game of the year this year then next year will be Bungie! AMAZING! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skummgummigubbe Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 I think they should have 3 years to develop. 2 years is what a CoD game gets... And we all know how those turn out compaired to each other... cod does release games every year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
36-2071 Pragmatic Avarice Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 They hinted towards a new Marathon, the word Destiny is a reference to Marathon. If anyone had paid attention to the third game in the Marathon trilogy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undead Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 They hinted towards a new Marathon, the word Destiny is a reference to Marathon. If anyone had paid attention to the third game in the Marathon trilogy. I never thought of that and I always played the Marathon games. You sir are amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
36-2071 Pragmatic Avarice Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Here's a hint: Marathon Infinity reveals who the Security Officer really is, and what he really was. The technology he was grafted to had been known to last trillions of years and transcend into another unknown universe. Becoming Destiny in some way, like a god. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carts Posted May 27, 2012 Report Share Posted May 27, 2012 cod does release games every year The Call of Duty franchise uses 2 developpement teams so they can release a game they worked on for 2 years by alternating release years. -Cod4 = IW -WaW = Trayarch -MW2 = IW -BO = Treyarch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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