As the lawsuit between Activision and Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vincent Zampella drags on, the court proceedings have caused several enlightening bits of information to come to light. But none is more interesting than yesterday’s public reveal of the contract between Activision and Bungie.
The contract was requested by West and Zampella to show that the contract they signed with Activision was a lesser deal compared to the decade-long agreement that Bungie was given. I’m not sure why that matters since Bungie was (and is) an independent development studio and Infinity Ward was (and is) owned-and-operated by Activision. But some good came out of its release as the Los Angeles Times obtained a copy of the contract and put it on the Internet for all to see.
You’ll definitely want to read all the highlights relating to Bungie’s New Universe after the break.
- The contract refers to Bungie’s new franchise alternately as “Tiger” and as “Destiny.” It’s unknown if either of these words will be included in the final title.
- “Destiny” will be a “massively multiplayer,” “sci-fantasy,” “action-shooter.” That’s right, Bungie is making an MMO.
- Bungie’s ten-year deal with Activision will span four games, released in Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Fall 2017, and Fall 2019. Four “major DLC expansions” are also being planned for release in Fall 2014, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, and Fall 2020.
- Other DLC related to “Destiny” will also be produced.
Now this is where things get really interesting.
- The first game in the series will initially be exclusive to the Xbox 360, with a PS3 release scheduled for a year later.
- Destiny #1 will also be released for the Xbox 720.
- The series will jump to “future generation” consoles with Destiny #2. That game will be developed for the Xbox 360, Xbox 720, PS4, and PC.
- Activision reserves the right to put “Destiny” on other platforms, but Bungie has the right-of-first-refusal to develop any ports/conversions.
- Bungie will retain all rights related to the “Destiny” franchise.
- “Destiny” (and all future sequels) will be developed with a Teen rating in mind.
And this is where things get really, REALLY interesting.
- During the life of the contract, Bungie reserves the right to devote development resources to creating a new game in the Marathon series.
- But they have to wait until Destiny #3 is completed in Fall 2017 before they can start work on it.
Activision is expected to unveil “Destiny”/”Tiger” at this year’s E3 Expo.
