X

Destiny solely in Bungie’s hands after split with Activision

Bungie looks to "Become Legend" on its own, ending a nine-year partnership with one of the world's biggest video game publishers.

Jackson Ryan Former Science Editor
Jackson Ryan was CNET's science editor, and a multiple award-winning one at that. Earlier, he'd been a scientist, but he realized he wasn't very happy sitting at a lab bench all day. Science writing, he realized, was the best job in the world -- it let him tell stories about space, the planet, climate change and the people working at the frontiers of human knowledge. He also owns a lot of ugly Christmas sweaters.
See full bio
Jackson Ryan
destiny.jpg
Bungie/Activision

Bungie, the development team behind video game megahit Destiny, is parting ways with publisher Activision.

In a blog post Thursday, Bungie said it'll take over publishing for Destiny and its sequels in the future, ending a nine-year partnership. 

The success of that nine-year stretch is apparent, with Bungie saying Destiny has "delivered a combination of over 50 million games and expansions to players all around the world." But now it seems Bungie will take another leap of faith, as full control of Destiny is handed over. 

"The 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," Bungie wrote. 

In a statement, Activision said "going forward, Bungie will own and develop the franchise, and Activision will increase its focus on owned IP and other projects."

Bungie became a household name after great success with the Halo franchise, one of the Xbox's most lauded titles, under the stewardship of Microsoft. However, in 2007, Bungie split with Microsoft to form its own company, while Microsoft retained the rights to the Halo franchise.  

Activision scored big when it signed Bungie in 2010, in a partnership intended to last 10 years. Over that time Activision published both Destiny, which launched in 2014, and Destiny 2, in 2017, plus a myriad of downloadable content, including the recently released Forsaken expansion.