In a move that appears to be as surprising as the Master Chief unmasking on "Halo," video game giants Activision and Bungie have announced a 10-year distribution deal. The Activision Bungie deal gives Activision "exclusive worldwide rights to publish and distribute." This can lead to quite the guaranteed loans for Activision, and Bungie gets to keep its intellectual property rights. It's a deal that should bring Bungie's games to more platforms when maintaining gaming quality.

Bungie Activision partnership

The specific details of the Bungie Activision partnership were announced today on the Bungie Blog. Bungie, that is a game developer best-known for creating the "Halo" series for XBox, has been working on an unannounced "Intellectual Property" that is probably a new video game. The Bungie Activision partnership is located on this new intellectual property. The Halo series, including the game newly made, "Halo Reach," will continue to be developed by Bungie and Microsoft's 343 Industries.

Bungie and Activision to work on distribution

For nine months the Bungie Activision deal has been within the works. Activision is a “third party” publisher of video games that specializes in making multi-platform video games. In the past, Bungie games are available only on Microsoft's XBox system. By partnering with Activision, Bungie will most likely be bringing its new games to XBox, Playstation, PC and maybe other video gaming platforms.

Bungie avoids Activision lawsuit concerns

The deal between Bungie and Activision comes at a time that Activision is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit based on the release of "Modern Warfare 2." The legal issues involving the Activision/Infinity Ward group affect the game development divisions. The deal with Bungie and Activision looks to make use of Bungie's game development and Activision's distribution - effectively shoring up each of the company's weakest point. The Bungie/Activision partnership will either way make some exciting news in the next 10 years of video gaming.

Resources

ARS Technica

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/04/activision-and-bungie-ink-surprising-10-year-publishing-deal.ars

Computer and Video Games

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=244809

Bungie.net

http://www.bungie.net/News/Blog.aspx