Bungie Splits from Activision, Acquires Rights to Destiny

Bungie and Activision are ending their nearly nine-year-long partnership together. In an announcement today, the developers said all publishing rights for Destiny will be owned by Bungie.

“Today, we’re announcing plans for Bungie to assume full publishing rights and responsibilities for the Destiny franchise. Going forward, Bungie will own and develop the franchise, and Activision will increase its focus on owned IP and other projects. Activision and Bungie are committed to a seamless transition for the Destiny franchise and will continue to work closely together during the transition on behalf of the community of Destiny players around the World.”

In a blog post on Bungie’s website, the team said,

“With Activision, we created something special. To date, Destiny has delivered a combination of over 50 million games and expansions to players all around the world. More importantly, we’ve also witnessed a remarkable community – tens of millions of Guardians strong – rise up and embrace Destiny, to play together, to make and share memories, and even to do truly great things that reach far beyond the game we share, to deliver a positive impact on people’s everyday lives.”

It is unknown when the full rights to Destiny will be transferred, but the post went on to say,

“The planned 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.”

Activision posted this on Twitter:

Thank you Guardians. It’s been an honor and a privilege to help bring the world of Destiny to life for you. pic.twitter.com/EB1y19OTD8

— Activision (@Activision) January 10, 2019

Meanwhile, Blizzard says Destiny 2 will still receive full support on BattleNet and they don’t foresee any issues with their servers during the shift.

Today, we're announcing plans for Bungie to assume full publishing rights for the Destiny franchise.

Read the full story at https://t.co/nxcJOVXAv6.https://t.co/RyD1jvi0hW pic.twitter.com/giFKmkyc9y

— Bungie (@Bungie) January 10, 2019

There’s no word on how or if Bungie’s control over Destiny will change the series going forward. According to Polygon, the company partnered with NetEase for a $100 million dollar investment.

Destiny launched in September of 2014, followed by Destiny 2 in September 2017.

What are your thoughts on this split? Let us know in the comments below!

Scott Roepel

Scott’s been gaming since he could hold a controller in his hands. He’s a journalist who loves Dungeons and Dragons, video games, tabletop RPGs, and comic books. He has an intelligence of 6, he knows what he’s doing.