After eight years of partnership Bungie has announced they will parting ways with Activision. Bungie will assume “full publishing rights and responsibilities for the Destiny Franchise”.

Bungie Splits with Activision and Keeps Destiny

The developer Bungie and the publisher Activision originally joined together in April 2010 where they announced a 10-year publishing deal. During their time together they released Destiny in 2014 and Destiny 2 in 2017.

While they are going their separate ways, Bungie will hold onto the rights of the Destiny franchise, and Activision will still hold publishing rights for the titles. Activision released a statement today that they confirm this stance:

…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.

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

Bungie also released their own statement via their website in regards to the news, explaining that they are looking to the future and have enjoyed their partnership with Activision. They also confirm that the are already in the process in transitioning making sure it will be “as seamless as possible”.

 We have enjoyed a successful eight-year run and would like to thank Activision for their partnership on Destiny. Looking ahead, we’re excited to announce plans for Activision to transfer publishing rights for Destiny to Bungie. With our remarkable Destiny community, we are ready to publish on our own, while Activision will increase their focus on owned IP projects.

Blizzard have released a tweet saying that Destiny 2 will still remain fully supported by Blizzard, as the game uses the BattleNet system.

Destiny 2 will still receive full support on BattleNet and we do not anticipate any disruption to our services or your gameplay experience. https://t.co/FFOE1iae3R

— BlizzardCS (@BlizzardCS) January 10, 2019

It seems a little surprising that Bungie are cutting their 10 year partnership short but it looks like they are taking what they have learnt from recent feedback of their DLC Forsaken as a way forward:

With Forsaken, we’ve learned, and listened, and leaned in to what we believe our players want from a great Destiny experience. Rest assured there is more of that on the way… We know self-publishing won’t be easy; there’s still much for us to learn as we grow as an independent, global studio, but we see unbounded opportunities and potential in Destiny. We know that new adventures await us all on new worlds filled with mystery, adventure, and hope. We hope you’ll join us there.

Destiny 2 is currently available on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

To read more news find it here in Bungie Gets Lucrative Investment From New Partnership With Chinese Game Company and Destiny 2 Forsaken Gets Captivating Launch Trailer. You can also read about the rumoured Blizzard projects here.