Bungie and Activision Announce Exclusive, Worldwide Partnership.

The story of Bungie is wild, winding, and full of majestic wonder. We’ve treaded many pathways over these last nineteen years. But for all the twists and turns we’ve taken, we’re still doing what we set out to do from the beginning, back when the whole of “Bungie Software Products Corporation” consisted of two friends operating out of a basement in Chicago:

Making kick ass games that we want to play.

And as Bungie has grown, the industry’s best and brightest have been totally accretive to our own creative margins. It’s no secret that while the full might of our studio has focused on making Halo: Reach, another core team, led by our co-founder and Studio Creative Director, Jason Jones, has already begun laying the groundwork to bring our newest universe, stories, and characters to life.

Today, we’re poised to open a new chapter in Bungie’s history—one that begins with a partnership between Bungie and Activision and ends where we always knew it would, with World Domination. Our Next Big Thing now has a concrete path, leading from our studio to the platforms of our choosing. The business formalities are behind us. Our Constitution remains unchanged. We are still Bungie, still independent, and now we are free to bring our stories to an ever bigger audience.

Next up, the most ambitious game we’ve ever made, Halo: Reach. Built upon ten years of experience developing the Halo franchise, we’ve assembled the best team, the best technology, and the best talent to ensure that Reach is the game our fans deserve. Strap in and buckle up tight, we’re sending our baby out with a bang.

Once the smoke clears, all the pieces will finally be in place for Step 7. Don’t worry, though. We won’t let World Domination go to our heads. We’re gonna keep making kick ass games on our own terms, and since you’ve been so supportive throughout the years, we’d love to bring you along for the ride.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BUNGIE AND ACTIVISION ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE, WORLDWIDE PARTNERSHIP

10-Year Alliance Expands Global Reach for Leading Game Developer Across Multiple Platforms

Kirkland, WA and Santa Monica, CA – April 29, 2010 -- Bungie, the developer of blockbuster game franchises including Halo, Myth and Marathon, and Activision, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the #1 online games publisher (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today that they have entered into an exclusive 10-year partnership to bring Bungie’s next big action game universe to market. Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices. Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The groundbreaking alliance will provide Bungie its first such partnership since splitting off from Microsoft in 2007, significantly broadening its global reach by providing the resources and support to develop, distribute and release games worldwide on multiple platforms and devices.

Activision will broaden its portfolio with a new franchise from one of the industry’s most creative, successful and proven studios, whose games have sold more than 25 million units worldwide. To date, Bungie’s Halo games have generated approximately $1.5 billion in revenues, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and GfK. Activision expects this agreement to be accretive to its operating margins as of the release of the first game.

“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.”

“Bungie is one of the premier studios in our industry and we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with their talented team over the next decade,” stated Thomas Tippl, Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard. “Bungie has developed some of the most compelling and successful games, multiplayer experiences and thriving fan communities, and this alliance underscores our long-standing commitment to foster the industry’s best creative talent. Our unprecedented partnership with Bungie will enable us to broaden our pipeline of exciting new games as we continue to strengthen our industry position and pursue long-term growth opportunities.”

Now with new theme!

Bungie Podcast: 04/19/10

Derek Carroll talks about the rules that run the game, Dave Candland interfaces with his fans, and Luke "Froman" Timmins answers all the right questions about Reach's under-the-hood upgrades.

Bungie Podcast 041910 (1:29:49) [82 MB]

iTunes, as always, coming soon-ish.

By Brian Sharp.

Eventually, we'll house the high res take on Sharp's talk, but if you need some leadership advice like now, hit the jump to tune in. If you're looking for Reach details, or even pretty screenshots, this isn't your cup of tea. This one's all about learning.

GDC 2010 - Concrete Practices to be a Better Leader

Doubling up in the month of March.

Bungie Podcast: 03/29/10

Multiplayer designer Chris Carney settles into our studio to cough up all the details about Reach’s multiplayer direction and Sandbox Lead Sage Merrill has a sit in our hot seat to tackle twenty questions designed to dig into Reach's deadly upgrades.

Bungie Podcast 032910 (1:16:38) [70 MB]

That's three on the year, suckers, and we've already got the fourth in the can. Stay Tuned to Bungie.net all week for more Halo: Reach information!

Jaime Griesemer sounds off on the Sniper Rifle.

Bungie's resident Gameplay Guru, Jaime Griesemer, analyzes a seemingly insignificant data point, explores it in exhaustive detail, and explains precisely how and why you should follow in his contrails if you're willing to make the hard choices and want to develop your own supernatural sense of balance.

Bungie.net Publications - Design in Detail

...the Bungie Way!

Matt Priestley passed us the deck he used to deliver his GDC talk and we just published it into our publications page. If you're interested in some Best Practices designed to keep your energetic and talented engineering staff running at full capacity, queue this bad boy up for download and get your learn on. If you're just on the lookout for fancy multimedia and sneak peeks at Halo: Reach, save yourself some bandwidth.

Wrangling Engineers the Bungie Way

Better late than never.

Bungie’s Audio Lead, Jay Weinland drops in on the Bungie Podcast to talk about the audio improvements for Reach and the process of bringing real and hyper real audio to life. Oh, and we whine and moan about the selection of drinks on offer in the Bungie kitchen. Because we're babies.

Bungie Podcast 030910 (0:46:52) [45 MB]

Like what you're hearing? Sound off in the discussion thread attached. As always, iTunes coming soon.

We're at Alpha!

Okay, not quite, but damn close. If you want to stay lockstep with Halo: Reach's development news, you should be checking out the Marcus and Joe's development blog. And before you ask, we're all full up on Alpha testers.

Noble Actual - Halo: Reach Dev Blog