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5/21/2012 11:55:21 PM
684
Bungie/Activisions Next Game Revealed: Well, that just happened...
So basically, Bungie/Activision's new game codenamed 'Destiny' was [i]"made public for the first time as part of a separate lawsuit involving the Call of Duty game franchise."[/i] This is obviously big news.
Bungie's word (News article): [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/Blog.aspx?mode=news#cid32112]"Well, that just happened..."[/url] [quote][i]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.[/i][/quote]
[b]Summary of what we 'know' so far...[/b]
-Massively multiplayer style, sci-fantasy action shooter series codenamed Destiny with expansion packs codenamed Comet.
-Four games which are targeting for a 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 release.
-Four expansion packs which are targeting for a 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 release.
-There will be other DLC, subscriptions, microtransactions, and value added services.
-The first game will be an Xbox 360 and "Xbox 720" timed exclusive.
-Bungie is also working on a Marathon game, but currently no more than 5% of their staff (nor more than 5% of their key staff) can work on it.
-The second game is targeted for 360, 720, PS4, and Windows PC, though the contract notes that some of those SKUs may be dropped if they decide they are not worthwhile or not technically feasible.
-Activision can terminate the contract without penalty if Destiny doesn't sell at least 5 million units in the first six months.
- The main games will be retail.
-At maximum, 7 Bungie employees and 10 contractors are allowed to work on Bungie.net.
-The game is targeting a rating of Teen/PEGI 16. Nonetheless, Bungie doesn't have to (by the contact) hit this target.
[url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-bungie-activision-contract-20120521,0,3463781.story]LA Times wrote an article[/url] about the contract between Bungie and there next game, code name 'Destiny'. This could possibly be some info about the next IP. Pretty interesting.
[url=http://documents.latimes.com/bungie-activision-contract/]Here's the contract that they refer to in the article.[/url]
For those who are too lazy to read the contract.
[url=http://www.abload.de/img/destiny0tumo.png]Product[/url]
[url=http://www.abload.de/img/destiny2eruax.png]Release Plan[/url]
Most interesting part of the whole article in my opinion.
[quote][i]The 27-page agreement calls for Bungie to develop four "sci-fantasy, action shooter games," code-named "Destiny," released every other year, beginning in the fall of 2013. Bungie also agreed to put out four downloadable expansion packs code-named "Comet," every other year beginning in the fall of 2014. Activision has never disclosed release plans for Bungie's titles.[/i][/quote]
Also interesting.
[quote][i]The first Destiny game will initially only be available on Microsoft's Xbox 360 consoles, as well as its potential successor, which the contract refers to as the "Xbox 720." Later games would be made for Xbox consoles as well as Sony Corp.'s expected successor to the PlayStation 3, and on personal computers.[/i][/quote]
[Edited on 05.21.2012 10:55 PM PDT]
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This will be an IMPORTANT read for everyone who is criticizing or have doubts about the contract, Bungie, and/or Destiny. For all the people who have little to no faith in project, PLEASE read on. Jason Jones is leading this project like he was project lead for Marathon 1, Marathon 2, Myth 1, and Halo 1. All those games have been AAA caliber. People are saying Destiny will be a typical Activision game which they are going to milk the series, making a game every year for 7 years (2013-2020)! Facts: Destiny begun development back in 2007 around when Halo 3 was released. By the time the game comes out next year, it will be six years in development, well more than most games take (3-4 years). Bungie in the last year it seems has increased their staff tremendously and have more than 200 employees working on the game, well larger than most studios. Marathon might or might not be a project they are working on currently, but if they are, it would be my guess around 5-10 people would be working on it. This is very minute number. Given Bungie's style and past, the expansions (Comets 1-4) will be worked on by a smaller team after each Destiny gets released, so majority of the 200+ employees will be focused on the next Destiny game, not Comet. This is Bungie forte, they normally have 80-90% of their staff focused on their big project while a small group work on side projects (such as Halo ODST and all the Halo DLC). Technically each game will not be one year in development, and since this game is a MMO, there probably be many game assets they have developed from 2007-2013 that won't make the cut for Destiny #1, but perhaps future iterations. In conclusion, think of it like this, 4 Destiny games will be developed in 13 years. No problems there. :) The next thing is people are saying Bungie are in a very insecure situation because if they do not sell 5 million units in the first 6 months, they will lose their contract. This is simply not true. First of all, they OWN the IP. Even if Activision cuts ties with Bungie, Bungie can still develop any game including Destiny. The main point that needs to brought up though is, say Destiny sells 2-4 million in those six months (which is not an unrealistic figure), it is very doubtful Activision will cut ties. The fanbase of Bungie is LARGE (as we all know :)). Bungie are not unknown...they weren't unknown before Halo was created as they made strategy games of the year. Bungie will be around for a long time as they have been developing games for 21 years! Each Destiny game should realistically sell more than the past game, provided it is not a flop. No Bungie game has ever been a flop. Activision trusts Bungie, which is why they teamed up. They just had to put stipulations (even if they are unrealistic) to terminate just in case they for whatever reason have to cut ties (even if it has nothing to do with Bungie). If I were a betting man, if for whatever reason Destiny #1 doesn't meet the 5 million mark (which it should), Activision will still be publishing future Destiny games. People and news site believe Destiny #1 is either a Xbox 360 exclusive or a time based release. This could very well not be true. Bungie mentions in contract they will evaluate if it is feasible to develop a Playstation 3 version. They gave a date by when they have to make that decision. Good news people, they have been hiring Playstation engineers AFTER they had to make the decision, so it is VERY likely they are working on a Playstation version. At the time contract was made, they were finishing up their fifth Xbox game. They have never made a Playstation game and had a small number if any Playstations engineers on their team. This is why contract is written like that, just to be safe if they don't feel like they could do it. The fact is they are still hiring Playstation engineers is a good sign for Sony fans. And who knows, they can release the game for both systems simultaneously. Sure it says 2014 for Playstation version, but it also mentions there are no requirements to meet a 2013 date. I take it as there is a chance it will be simultaneously released for both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 next year. We just have to wait and see. Believe in Bungie, they will deliver the goods. [Edited on 05.27.2012 8:27 AM PDT]
