Destiny Franchise to Leave Activision Blizzard

Blizzard Posted 2019/01/10 at 3:14 PM by Anshlun

Destiny 2 Battle.net Support

Destiny 2 will still receive full support on BattleNet and we do not anticipate any disruption to our services or your gameplay experience. https://t.co/FFOE1iae3R

— BlizzardCS (@BlizzardCS) January 10, 2019Internal LeaksBlizzard's Diablo team late 2018

At today's meeting announcing the news, Bungie staff cheered loudly. Can't over-emphasize how happy they are not just to get away from Activision, but to have a game that they now own completely. Imagine a Destiny free from Activision's restrictive annualized schedule!

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 10, 2019

OUR DESTINY

When we first launched our partnership with Activision in 2010, the gaming industry was in a pretty different place. As an independent studio setting out to build a brand new experience, we wanted a partner willing to take a big leap of faith with us. We had a vision for Destiny that we believed in, but to launch a game of that magnitude, we needed the support of an established publishing partner.

With Activision, we created something special. To date, Destiny has delivered a combination of over 50 million games and expansions to players all around the world. More importantly, we’ve also witnessed a remarkable community – tens of millions of Guardians strong – rise up and embrace Destiny, to play together, to make and share memories, and even to do truly great things that reach far beyond the game we share, to deliver a positive impact on people’s everyday lives.

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.

The planned transition process is already underway in its early stages, with Bungie and Activision both committed to making sure the handoff is as seamless as possible.

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.

Thank you so much for your continued support. Our success is owed in no small part to the incredible community of players who have graced our worlds with light and life. We know self-publishing won’t be easy; there’s still much for us to learn as we grow as an independent, global studio, but we see unbounded opportunities and potential in Destiny. We know that new adventures await us all on new worlds filled with mystery, adventure, and hope. We hope you’ll join us there.

See you starside.

BUNGiE

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Comment by CrusadyrBLIZZARD PLEASE FOLLOW BUNGIE!
GET OUT OF THE DEATHTRAP THAT IS ACTIVISION!Comment by JacobWonderWhy would you think than? It just means the company that made the game gets to make decisions again.Comment by JacobWonderThere's a reason slaves in early America didn't/couldn't break away. It's not as easy as saying "Leave Them".

If blizzard kicked out Activision, they'd probably get sued so far they would turn into an Activision trying to make enough money to survive.Comment by BuloActivision is a cancer, good joob Destiny/Bungie teamComment by MANU1234NOW I HOPE BLIZZARD LEAVES ALSOComment by DracaanBlizz...you saw how it's done! Go and get out of those shackles dammit!Comment by EchseKuhTorThat's very unlikely, sadly. Blizz and Activision merged, bungie and activision just had a partnership. But we can still hopeComment by mongrel1980I think the deal was 10 years and 3 games. So far only 2 were made.Comment by kentribalI agree with you.but one question to answer.a lot of ppl working or leave blizz why they saying about activision pushed to make games for phones tablets and ^&*!ty like this and dont have the freedom to make games they love it?Comment by rhostamI'm afraid those that just want Blizzard to leave Activision or those that don't understand why Bungie would leave or stay don't understand the dynamics of a studio/ publisher. I worked for an AAA MMO company for about a decade. We partnered with several studios and we owned a few. But we were a publisher at core (in the US, anyway). It is not cheap to publish your own games; its almost an entirely different discipline and you need a wholly entire different budget to deal with building the infrastructure to do it. Operations is different than development. This is why such partnerships form. In the case of Blizzard, it isn't so simple. Activision isn't just publishing their games on their platform. I'm sure this will be good for Bungie in the long haul, but I am curious to see how they handle the publishing aspect and how this impacts their products, operationally.Comment by thaaraelI agree with you.but one question to answer.a lot of ppl working or leave blizz why they saying about activision pushed to make games for phones tablets and ^&*!ty like this and dont have the freedom to make games they love it?Comment by Jevnakerand here i was hoping it would be removed from battle net now.Comment by FreosanSmartest thing so far, too bad blizzard has already lost all the important people before they realized what a parasite Activision is.Comment by Sleepy24Why can't Blizzard leave $%^&ty Activision?Comment by DrDarkoPeople, Blizzard DID already left Activision. By that I mean ALL the old people that made the company left. They wore changed to Activison monkeys. Bungie might have just saved their studio, they lost so much because of this idiotic greed, greed over greed over greed. That's all that Activison is about. Destiny series might as well be remade from the ground up cause the core game-play concept is @#$%.
(not wanting to be mean to individuals, but to the company as a whole)Comment by MAKJPlease Blizzard do the same as Bungie.Comment by PutridpiranhaAll these comments thinking that Blizzard is an innocent party with Activision governing their bad decisions, no. This scapegoating of Acti protects Blizzard from much of the blame for their current design philosophy. It really is to their benefit. And in the replies to this article, people are cheering for a company that doesn't exist. Blizzard isn't some good-hearted unicorn in a cage waiting to be freed so that it can bring joy to gamers everywhere, it is the company that you see today. Instead people are diving after red herrings like these in hopes that they'll find some light at the end of the tunnel. It would be better to realize the reality of it and what Blizzard is. There is a huge overestimation of how much Blizzard would change if Activision parted ways with it.Comment by 0AlorethAs clarified by a CM, Blizzard and Activision are still separate companies. All the Activision-Blizzard merger is doing is combining their stocks.

I insist that Activision is a scapegoat.Comment by RascothGood for them. I wish them the best for the future.

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