IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Bungie Explains What The Activision Deal Means for Them and Fans

Posted April 29, 2010 by James Brightman

The folks at Bungie are a happy bunch today. We can tell - we just got off the phone with Brian Jarrard (Community Director) and Joseph Staten (Design Director), who seemed ecstatic about the new 10-year publishing partnership with Activision for their upcoming action IP. IndustryGamers asked the duo why this deal is so important to Bungie, what it means for fans, and what we should expect for this new IP over the long-term. Here's the full conversation:

IndustryGamers: How did this huge deal come together? How long was it in the works?

Joseph Staten: The process for us internally really started back in 2007 when we became independent from Microsoft, and back then we decided on a couple fundamental things about the deal we want to openly sign. We knew we wanted to own and control our own creations, we knew we wanted to remain independent, we knew we wanted to talk to as big an audience as possible. So since 2007 we've been developing the creative idea and spinning up conversations with potential partners. We've always stuck to those deal points. The Activision negotiations really kicked off about 9 months ago... and just this week we finally signed the long-form agreement, the final contract, and the things we set out to get in 2007 we finally have secured. Bungie is an independent company that owns its own creations and now has the freedom to tell stories create games on as many devices and platforms as makes sense. Although we're just announcing it today, really for Bungie this has been years in the making. 

IG: Were you at all involved in talks with other major publishers, like EA for example?

Brian Jarrard: We're not at liberty to disclose specifically who we've spoken to, but suffice it to say over the last year we've spoke to basically every eligible publishing partner, and for a deal of this magnitude with these types of terms there aren't a lot of people who can come to that table and have that discussion. Ultimately, Activision rose to the top as a mix of... not only are they a world class publisher in their own right and guaranteed us that they can bring our game and universe to market in a big way, on a global scale, across multiple platforms, but they also were able to strike a deal that gave us exactly what we wanted, which most importantly for us is that we remain independent, that we own our new IP and we have creative control of how we realize this next game and this vision for our next universe.

IG: I know you were talking to Activision way before the Infinity Ward mess got very public, but did the timing of that and your deal make you concerned? And were you at all worried about how Activision treats developers in general?

BJ: Were we a little bit worried about the timing of the announcement? Yeah, we were. The long-form contract was just signed this week... so we just got to the point where we were able to announce it, so we obviously had discussions around the ideal timing for that and there were a lot of other factors we had to be aware of. For us, most importantly, we didn't want to step on top of Halo: Reach; we have our beta launching on Monday and we have a lot of things happening for Reach between now and launch, and we'll have some stuff going on at E3. Things also don't get kept secret very long [in this industry], and they leak, so [we wanted to get the news out there]. But we read the same stories as everybody else [about Infinity Ward] and it definitely did cause us a little concern about how fans would react to this based on what they've been reading, but honestly it is what it is at this point – we have a really great deal that gives Bungie more latitude to do what we do best than we've ever had before in the history of the company.

We're more able to do amazing things in the coming decade than we've ever been, and I think eventually when we can start talking about the game, it'll speak for itself. All fans should take away from this is Bungie will be able to make the games Bungie wants to make, and they'll be more available across more devices than they ever have been in the past. And are we concerned as a new partner of Activision? No, not at all. [The IW situation] really has no impact on our business or the awesome partnership and arrangement we've already formed.

IG: This Activision deal involves just one IP from Bungie, so if you really wanted to you could conceivably still create another Halo with Microsoft right? Or does this deal impact that?

BJ: I can tell you that we don't have any plans to do that. You're right that this publishing partnership pertains just to this specific new IP of ours... but in order to realize our vision and these crazy ambitious plans that we have, it's going to take our entire studio and all of our best people working on it. So I think we'd be really hard pressed to find a world where Bungie has multiple teams making multiple disparate projects. I think we've learned through our own trial and error that that's not what Bungie does best. We're at our best when we're unified, focused on a single goal.

IG: Interesting, so for all intents and purposes, this new Activision deal really is the final nail in the coffin for any future Bungie Halo games. I know you guys said before that Reach was probably it, but this deal now seals it...

BJ: Yeah... we kind of knew that Reach was always going to be our last Halo game; immediately after Reach is done, the bulk of our team will roll right into production on our next big universe. At that point, Microsoft and their team will carry the torch and take Halo wherever they decide to take it. 

IG: Since you're now going multiplatform, what are your feelings on working with a console like PS3, which Bungie doesn't really have experience with, or even possibly working with a less powerful system like Wii? 

JS: We have a really deep technical bench at Bungie and people with a lot of experience, and I think we're in a position now where for the first time in a long time we can take a long view of the kinds of stories we want to tell and the audiences we want to reach; we're really excited about looking at all possibilities. At this point, all options are on the table. We just need to do our due diligence and investigate what's possible. 

BJ: Activision's experience and expertise with multiple platforms was definitely an additional appealing aspect of partnering with them, and it's our desire to share our stories and universe with as big an audience as possible. I do want to be clear, however, that it isn't like Activision's going to come and tell Bungie that our game has to be on these seven devices; this is a creative decision that we'll be driving what best aligns with our game. We get to decided and ultimately make the call on where it fits, and should we decide to explore platforms we're unfamiliar with, they have a lot of people who are and we're happy to tap into that knowledge.

IG: How will all your knowledge and experience working on Halo over the years carry over into this new action game you're building? What can you tell us about the project?

JS: Two thing really stand out. One is when we started working on Halo 1 as a launch title for Xbox we had no idea we were going to make a game called Halo: Reach, or for that matter Halo 2. We did not have any long-term plan. Today, looking at this new universe, we have a long-term plan. We have lots of different plans depending on what devices we would go with... but if I go back to my desk now as a designer I have an idea about the stories we might tell 5, 6 or 8 years from now or whenever they happen. That's a really different position to be in, and everybody on the team really can look forward to the future with a great deal more confidence about the stuff we might be doing – the kind of tech we need to build, the kind of art style we might need to come up with, you name it. I know people on Reach are extremely, extremely excited about that. And Brian mentioned this before, but we really are refocusing the entire studio after Reach on this new IP... so for people at Bungie who were maybe spread thin a little bit, this is a chance for everybody to dive deep into one thing and work on it together. And for folks like me, who've been at Bungie more than 10 years, seen the creative ups and downs, I'm extremely excited about keeping the band together and doing what we do best.

IG: Right, so the long-term plan, assuming a 2-year development cycle, would I guess include story ideas for around 5 games in this new universe?

JS: It's really exciting to think about all the stories we might tell. What you're really saying is this isn't just an announcement about one game; we're not talking about this one new game we're going to ship in whatever year, but we're talking about a 10-year partnership for a new universe of games. It's exciting but also creatively daunting [laughs]. If someone had told me 10 years ago that I'd be spending 10 years trying to build and flesh out this giant universe of stories, I might have exploded under the pressure. Having gone through that, and making mistakes and learning from them, we can look at stab in the dark plans for 5 years out or whatever those dates are and with a lot of confidence for what this universe is going to be like in 10 years and how it's going to evolve. As a creative person that's an extremely empowering position to be in.

IG: Is it your hope or goal as part of this long-term plan to also extend this new IP and universe to other entertainment like comics, novels or even a Hollywood film?

JS: I think we've had a lot of great experience with Halo and seen the power of those other things to reach a broader audience and get people excited about the games that we make. Whatever ends up making sense for us, we're going to take all that experience we have with Halo novels and comics and all that sort of stuff, and if the partnership is right and the opportunity looks good, the thing that's great about this [Activision] deal is it's Bungie's call. 

IG: So when should we realistically expect to hear about this new IP? When can we at least hear a little bit about it?

BJ: Right now, we're going to be really conscious of keeping our focus on Reach and not wanting to detract from that or take any wind out of its sails; we're really excited about how the game's shaping up. We have a lot of stuff going on now through launch, and even a little beyond launch, so it's safe to say you won't hear anything significant on what we're working at least through this year.

IG: Thanks for the time today guys!

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.