General Gaming Bungie done with their Activision overlords

[Paperclyp]

23 minutes ago, Nokt said:

While Bungie did a lot of things right in the Halo series, the games also got progressively worse in a lot of ways.

 

Let’s not forget that advanced movement started with Reach and so did loadouts. Also it’s not like Destiny’s story telling is any better than Halo’s at this point, nor is their enemy AI. 

I don’t agree with that. 1 was great for a console shooter, 2 was ok single player, awesome multi, 3 was a perfect combo of both. Reach changed it up in fantastic fashion. Reach or 3 is the best in the series imo. 

 

Hell, even ODST has its fans. 

 

Destiny 1 essentially didn’t have a story. It was a shell of a game, essentially a tech demo or proof of concept that obviously wasn’t complete at launch. People were talking up 2 and it ended up being more of the same for me - an incomplete... something with a lot of promise disappointing in the end. 

 

I don’t know if they bit off more than they could chew, saddled themselves with a bad engine for the type of game they were going for or what. But the team is talented as hell, and I don’t know if there’s a better feeling FPS on the consoles. I still am optimistic they could make something top-tier again. 

[Keyser_Soze]

The only thing bungie sucked at was graphics and after seeing Destiny 2 it looks like they know how to do them.

[skillzdadirecta]

Reach was the best Halo game in the series... I didn't even think this was in dispute.  All this Bungie talk has me wanting to revisit Destiny 2 now. I only beat the main campaign with my Hunter.  Never beat it with my Titan or Warlock. I maxed out all three characters in the first game.

Another thing Bungie is great at is music... Reach, Destiny and Destiny 2 all have amazing soundtracks. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

13 hours ago, SFLUFAN said:

My theory is that because of the continued financial underperformance of Destiny 2 and other factors, Activision was on the verge of invoking some of the more draconian clauses of its contract with Bungie, including assuming actual ownership stakes.  At that point, Bungie decided to buy-out the contract which means they probably obtained external financing to the tune of a few hundreds of millions.

I have not read the full.contract. I can imagine it being possible that financially Destiny has been under performing, but not to a point where Activision can either take the property, issue Bungie any ultimatums regarding structure, or charge Bungie any penalties, but they could choose to dissolve the remainder of the agreement. Kind of just Activision cutting their losses. 

 

After the last earnings call Activision and their share holders may have been worried that keeping Destiny and Bungie would see diminishing returns.  Better to cut then loose now than wait until they are actively losing money.

[Paperclyp]

1 hour ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Reach was the best Halo game in the series... I didn't even think this was in dispute.  All this Bungie talk has me wanting to revisit Destiny 2 now. I only beat the main campaign with my Hunter.  Never beat it with my Titan or Warlock. I maxed out all three characters in the first game.

Another thing Bungie is great at is music... Reach, Destiny and Destiny 2 all have amazing soundtracks. 

You could easily argue 3. There’s certainly a split of halo fans that don’t care for the abilities Reach added. I go back and forth on which one I love more, but I think I played more Reach.

[skillzdadirecta]

3 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

You could easily argue 3. There’s certainly a split of halo fans that don’t care for the abilities Reach added. I go back and forth on which one I love more, but I think I played more Reach.

Yeah I go back between 3 and Reach as well,  but I give Reach the edge..  better story and better music in my opinion.  I always LOVED Reach.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Reach is the best game in the Halo series and I would pay serious $$$ for a remaster/remake.

[legend]

Reach has the most consistent campaign. But a number of the levels in Halo 3 are better than the levels in Reach and I think the best levels in the entire Halo series are in Halo 3.

 

Multiplayer between the two is more of a wash for me. Some things I like better in Halo 3, some in Reach.

[ARZ]

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...

 

Let's hope Bungie FINALLY learned their lesson and don't jump from one bed to the next.

[Keyser_Soze]

Halo 3 was forgettable to me, I don't remember a single good thing about it. However, I can go on and on about reach. 🤷‍♀️

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Overall I liked Reach much more than any other Halo. I also really liked ODST. I thought it proved you could have a full Halo campaign and not Have Master Chief and it still feel like Halo, and still feel fun. Then Reach was even better. 

 

Then proving they do not know what they're doing, 343 creates Locke and that half of Halo 5 is hot garbage. 

[skillzdadirecta]

ODST was awesome... I came THIS close to dismissing it when it came out but was glad I didn't 

[Dodger]

So do they still have a deal for Destiny 3 and then they are done, or Bungie is totally free to do whatever they want now? Who owns the Destiny IP, Bungie or Activision? Does this mean They finish Destiny 3 and then move on to whatever else, or do they now move on to whatever else?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

4 minutes ago, Dodger said:

So do they still have a deal for Destiny 3 and then they are done, or Bungie is totally free to do whatever they want now? Who owns the Destiny IP, Bungie or Activision? Does this mean They finish Destiny 3 and then move on to whatever else, or do they now move on to whatever else?

Bungie is free to do whatever they want now as they've bought out their contract with Activision.  Bungie retains ownership of the Destiny IP.

[Pikachu]

Bungie owns the Destiny IP and is free to do whatever they want with it. There is no contractual obligation to make Destiny 3.

[Dodger]

I would imagine they would still make Destiny 3 then, even if the series isn't meeting expectations Destiny 3 would still likely sell better than whatever new thing they could come up with next, since it's not like they can just go make another Halo. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

1 minute ago, SFLUFAN said:

Bungie is free to do whatever they want now as they've bought out their contract with Activision.  Bungie retains ownership of the Destiny IP.

Do we know how much money this freedom cost Bungie?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Do we know how much money this freedom cost Bungie?

No, but I imagine that it required financing from an external source such as a Chinese firm or a private equity fund.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Activision stock is down nearly 10% in today's trading.

[Keyser_Soze]

21 minutes ago, Dodger said:

I would imagine they would still make Destiny 3 then, even if the series isn't meeting expectations Destiny 3 would still likely sell better than whatever new thing they could come up with next, since it's not like they can just go make another Halo. 

 

They should pull an IO and somehow suck D2 away from the publisher then just continually make expansions for Destiny 2. There's really no need to make a "trilogy" of these games when the expansion route is better than rebuilding the game from scratch each time.

[Nokt]

You guys are crazy. 100% bloom was the worst thing ever added to a video game. Weapon sandbox got worse and worse as the series went on (it was essentially utility weapon and power weapons). Bungie didn't update Arena in Reach for months, even after resets and updates were just eventually dropped completely. Multiplayer maps in Reach hold nothing compared to maps in 1/2/3.  Armor abilities are despised by most of the community (and the competitive community especially hence the reason for their removal in Reach/4). 343i was the one to actually bring the title update to reach that balanced armor abilities and bring bloom to 85% and that was a full year after its release.

 

Reach had a great campaign, I won't argue that. Its multiplayer also had the best forge and firefight to date. Invasion was a cool idea.

[The def star]

Halo 3 > Reach 

 

The story in Reach was better but the gameplay, level design, multiplayer, was better in 3 for me. Halo 3 was a mile stone in gaming in general. Reach is my least favorite of the Bungie Halos. I'm not saying that it sucks. Reach is a great game just played the other a whole lot more.

[SaysWho?]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Halo 3 was forgettable to me, I don't remember a single good thing about it. However, I can go on and on about reach. 🤷‍♀️

 

That game was awesome and I actually got really good and MVP'd matches so take that back and praise the fuck outta it because I decide what you remember and forget.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

39 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

Activision stock is down nearly 10% in today's trading.

Either unrelated, or this was not something share holders wanted to see despite the report of underperformance on the earnings call. 

 

Could be Activision CEO going out on a limb with this, and/or you are right about the buyout from Bungie  Activision hoping the influx of cash with appease share holders. 

 

Then again they could have been down 10% regardless. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

9 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Either unrelated, or this was not something share holders wanted to see despite the report of underperformance on the earnings call. 

 

Could be Activision CEO going out on a limb with this, and/or you are right about the buyout from Bungie  Activision hoping the influx of cash with appease share holders. 

 

Then again they could have been down 10% regardless. 

It's very much related to the split because the shares went down immediately in after-hours trading yesterday after the announcement.  While the IP may be under performing, it still represents a revenue stream for Activision that's now effectively gone.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Does their fiscal year end in Feb/March?

 

Only thing that makes sense is Activision CEO wanted a big cash transaction to close the year out with. To boost their year revenue numbers. 

 

Maybe the plan the CEO is going to sell is they will take the money from selling off the remainder of the contract to invest in a new, better IP/game with the same "games as service" goal. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

8 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Does their fiscal year end in Feb/March?

Activision's fiscal year ends on December 31.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

6 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

Activision's fiscal year ends on December 31.

Then I don't know what they're doing. They could lose this money before they even end the quarter. 

[VKPButcher]

Good news? Hopefully at least. That said any new debacles going forward, like all of D2Y1, are all on Bungie now. Let's see if they're up to the task. I'd like to hope so even if I've had enough of Destiny's shenanigans and will likely avoid anything of Bungie's for the forseeable future until they've reproven themselves on a fresh IP.