14 DAY TRIAL // Many fans were worried for Bungie's fate when the deal between the developer and the infamous publisher Activision was announced. This was happening at time when Activision fired the two heads of Call of Duty studio Infinity Ward. This resulted in many accusations claiming that Activision had used scare tactic against its employees and had not payed them the royalties they deserved after the huge sales of Modern Warfare.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Brian Jarrard, community director at Bungie, declared about Activision's reputation that, “it doesn't concern us at all. We've spoken quite a bit about this. Certainly it's not great the situation that it [Activision] is in. I don't know any more about it than anybody else does. We're game developers. We have a great plan. We're excited about our future and our new universe that we're going to bring to life.”
He continued to comment about the contract his company signed that, “We have an awesome deal with those guys. Ultimately, I don't think it's going to matter who helps that game into the hands of gamers, other than we're happy to know Activision's got world-class publishing expertise across multiple platforms and they're going to be a great partner that's given us a great relationship and a great deal. So we're not too worried about it.”
It is worth noting that the agreement between Activision and Bungie involves only one intellectual property over which the developer will have full control both for the duration of the contract, as well as after it expires in ten years. Infinity Ward is an Activision subsidiary, meaning that the publisher had full ownership over its franchises and full command over its employees. Nobody knows what the name of this new game is or what it involves. Bungie's last effort in the Halo series, Halo: Reach, will be released on the 14th of September on the Xbox 360.