K - I - S - S... wait, Bungie and who?!?!
The horror broke last night when Comments regular krisp89 nearly died of shock reporting that Bungie, maker of fine games since Marathon (remember that one, kids?), is partnering up with Activision, maker of fine Modern Warfare games...
Bungie was 'partnered' with Microsoft for its publishing needs, but that ended in 2007. This new move brings some of gaming's biggest names and brands more or less under the one umbrella. It also comes on the back of a seemingly endless round of defections from Activision property Infinity Ward, and a number of lawsuits about Activision's treatment of the IW team.
But what does this really mean for Bungie? Here's the official take:
"We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise," said Harold Ryan, President of Bungie. "From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences."
The forlorn cries of "Nooooooo!!!!!" from gamers across the internet suggests that a lot of people feel otherwise, however. To our mind, the IW debacle aside, Activision generally treats its big-name properties pretty well. A lot of people expected Blizzard's games to drop in quality following their merger with the company a few years back, but Starcraft II's look great, World of Warcraft continues to expand its reach and quality, and Diablo III is still on track to break the backs of millions of mice worldwide when it releases.
And, looking back the original Bungie acquisition by Microsoft back in the day, it was thought Bungie's mojo would be seriously retarded, but that proved not to be the case then, and we suspect the company will continue doing what it does best - milking my love of power armour, it seems - for a long time yet.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012