Contracts between Activision and certain developers are public evidence thanks to litigation between Activision and the former Infinity Ward executives. It turns out Bungie, of Halo fame before they left Microsoft to partner with Activision, is developing their titles for the PC after their first Xbox-exclusive release. The proposed style of game has “massively-multiplayer client-based mission structures with persistent elements”.
… truth be told I have been disappointed with their games after Halo 2 when they focused on fan lip service…
But as a result of recent litigation involving their publisher we have found out that Bungie is working on a massively-multiplayer game with persistent elements. According to the contract published as evidence we will see certain versions are planned to be developed for the PC supposedly in-house.
This is the first time since the 90’s where Bungie has developed a game for the PC in-house — excluding the small assistance which Bungie provided to Microsoft Game Studios and Pi Studios for Halo 2 Vista.
Yeah… the comments for this post won’t surprise me…
(Photo: Bungie, Inc.)
If you wish to see a little behind-the-scenes of game publishing then you might like to check the contract out. A lot of amusing information such as royalty rates and bonuses are not-too-buried within the legalese. The formatting makes it actually quite human legible to skim through for the most part.
Even if Activision is ultimately successful in their lawsuit against former executives West and Zampella it would certainly be one of their most annoying victories — at best. They lose if they win and they very lose if they lose.
Now if only Heart of the Swarm release date was important for the trial…
YES!!!
YES!!!
I am always suspicious of
I am always suspicious of such news. While we all agree the PC is a superior gaming experience, it’s hard to see why a developer would put any emphasis on such a demanding platform with high user expectations when they could just focus on the console masses who have lower expectations, lower demands, and greater potential sales — unless you were making an MMO, involved RTS, or strategy game that really demands it.
Frankly, this sounds like more of a “passion-side-project” than anything really significant.
I agree with your reasoning
I agree with your reasoning on maximizing profit by targeting the largest sales base, but the article states that he PC product will be “massively-multiplayer client-based mission structures with persistent elements”. Fortunately for us this realm is still ruled by PCs. Lets hope they are given enough autonomy and time to make something really fun.