You're both wrong, but it's okay to have a positive attitude (Destiny)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Saturday, January 12, 2019, 09:28 (1943 days ago) @ metwaf100
edited by Korny, Saturday, January 12, 2019, 09:46

Agreed, everything points towards Bungie initiating the move.

I mean, with disappointing sales and a poor reception to alternate monetization to boost poor mtx sales, of course Bungie had the upper hand.

Forsaken was the best selling game of September, beating out even blockbusters like Spider-man PS4. To Activision however, it was a disappointment.

You sure about that? According to multiple sources, the top selling games in September were:

1.Marvel's Spider-Man
2.NBA 2K19
3.Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
4.FIFA 19
5.Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
6.Madden NFL 19
7.Forza Horizon 4
8.Destiny 2/Forsaken

From the looks of it, Forsaken was likely the best-selling expansion of September 2018, but by October 2018, it wasn't even on the list anymore...

There has been tension, but the game has been pretty damn profitable, so I agree narcogen, I'm almost certain it was Bungie that decided to let go of Activision as their publishing partner.

The recent stock trends have shown that investors clearly care more about growth than profit, and publishers make their decisions accordingly. BEFORE the split with Bungie, Activision was already showing significant decline in stock value. Not as bad as EA, of course, but the pattern was similar. Of course they'd probably want to trim the fat on franchises and studios that they don't own, and which aren't contributing to their growth. Don't forget that they weren't just funding the thing, they had their own studios, Vicarious Visions and High Moon, also working on Destiny. That's a lot of investment on a product with a poor retention rate.

So yeah, Activision is the one who stood to lose less by releasing Bungie from the contract. But regardless of who dumped who (though remember that Bungie employees were apparently taken by surprise) I see it as a win-win for both companies. Activision bleeds out a bit slower (and all they have to worry about now is CoD as a 1st party property), and Bungie is free to make decisions on their franchise moving forward.

Here's hoping for the best!