This afternoon I got to talk with Brian Jerrard and Joseph Staten from Bungie about the big announcement and the new partnership. Many outlets also did interviews so I tried to keep my questions very pointed and a little more detailed. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, I’m bolding the parts I thought were the most interesting so you can just skim the page for the juiciest bits.
ONE OF SWORDS: This deal is very obviously about one IP, and it’s an IP you’ve said has been in development for a while. But I thought that Microsoft had a first-refusal option on any new projects you were working on. Does that mean this is a project that Microsoft saw and passed on?
BRIAN JERRARD: There’s a lot of speculation floating around out there about what contractual obligations we do and don’t have with Microsoft, and the reality is that we are not at liberty to talk about the current terms of our relationship with Microsoft. I will say that we talked to a lot of prospective publishers, Microsoft being one of them. We obviously enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship for the past decade, and we did talk to them a lot about our future projects. But ultimately it came down to Activision as the publisher, at the end of the day, could meet all the terms that we thought were important, in addition to bringing world-class marketing and global distribution and multi-platform expertise to the table. We talked to a lot of different partners and spent a lot of time evaluating all the options, and Activision had the best deal that aligned with what we felt was most important for our future.
ONE OF SWORDS: I think the most important thing to a lot of people is knowing that Bungie will retain creative control. Is that fair to say? This is described as a partnership – you’re not being bought out, you’re still an independent studio, but at the same time it seems like it’s a little bit more than a distribution deal where Activision puts its logo on it and ships it out to stores. Where do see the creative give-and-take coming from in this new sitatuion?
Joseph Staten, photo courtesy of Halopedia
JOSEPH STATEN: Well, in any creative partnership…I mean, we wouldn’t sign with just a business entity that didn’t care about the creative, that didn’t have a voice, that didn’t want to engage us in creative discussion. I found over the last nine months – surprised, initially, but extremely happy with the fact – that everybody on the executive team from Activision that I’ve met, from Bobby the president on down, has been really engaged on understanding what it is about this project, creatively, that has us so excited, and they’ve had hard technical questions and design questions, and really wanted to know what our vision was. And that was exciting for us – not because we were afraid they were going to change our ideas or force us to do certain things, but because they genuinely cared and genuinely were interested in what we were doing. You know, certainly because they want it to be a great game that sold lots of copies, but because they are smart people – classy people too. They met us where we wanted to be. At the end of the day, Bungie is going to decide what, creatively, makes sense in this new universe. And we feel very secure in the agreement that we’ve signed that we will be able to do that. But we do view it as a true partnership, and I think it’s off to a really great start.
ONE OF SWORDS: I know this deal is centering around one IP. Is the deal really just for this one new universe, or if you had another idea, like an XBLA game or something unrelated to this main project, would Activision have the first look?
BRIAN JERRARD: If such a scenario were to occur, I think we’d probably have that discussion with them first. But right now, this deal, this partnership is really based on our new IP and our new universe. We’re being realistic with ourselves here. In order to pull off what we have envisioned for the next decade, and just the ambitious nature and the scope and scale we’re aiming for, it’s going to take the full might of our entire studio. We’re not envisioning a world where Bungie will be fragmented across multiple teams making multiple projects. We’re going all-in on this universe and it’s going to be a big deal for us.
Bungie workspace, photo courtesy of OXM
ONE OF SWORDS: Is the size, scope, and ambition of the project the reason this is a 10-year deal as opposed to, say, a three-year deal or a one-game deal?
JOSEPH STATEN: Yeah, absolutely. We’re not announcing just a single game or even coming out and saying “it’s a trilogy.” This is not about specific games, this is about ten years of creating a universe where we can tell any story that we want, any story we can dream up – and give it to people on whatever device platform that they would like to use. So yeah, it is a long-view, long-term commitment.
ONE OF SWORDS: On previous games, Bungie has done a lot of deep Xbox Live integration, and using online networking for more than just matchmaking – you’ve really built a community. Not being internal at Microsoft any more and considering multi-platform development, is any of that stuff in jeopardy? How will you be able to do deep online integrations the way that Bungie has done in the past if you no longer have special access just to Xbox Live?
Brian Jarrard, photo courtesy of Halopedia
BRIAN JERRARD: I think you’re going to see more of that stuff going forward. That’s one of the pillars of all Bungie games — that social and community element. I think the exciting thing for us is to look beyond, to find other ways to extend that game experience, other touchpoints, other ways for fans to engage. And we’ll have more opportunities in the future than we’ve ever had. I think bungie.net is a good example of a starting point, but we certainly have much more robust ideas and plans that we’re cooking up right now. And I think I also understand that Activision has a bit of experience with some online stuff as well. That’s something that we’ll continue to discuss as well.
ONE OF SWORDS: What’s your reaction to the reaction? Obviously, Activision not the most loved company in the world lately, and a lot of people have said “you sold out” or “how could you do this” or “Bungie’s dead.” A lot of your fans are very passionate – is this the voice of the fans, or is this the voice of people who are on the bleachers who don’t really know you? How do you respond to fans who think this is going to fundamentally change Bungie and they don’t see the upside of the Activision deal?
JOSEPH STATEN: Well, I was around when Bungie “sold out” the first time to Microsoft [laughs]. As part of the crew that moved out from Chicago, I mean, heck, ten years ago I was one of those people that didn’t know and was worried about our future. I can honestly say, ten years on, I and most of those same guys that moved out from Chicago, we’re still here. We’re stronger, we’re wiser, we took our time. Since 2007, with clear goals, we waited and waited until we found a partner that would meet us where we wanted to go, and we signed a deal that is not just going to protect Bungie for ten years and fund it, it’s going to allow us to create this whole new universe of stories that, once we get get a chance to break through the noise and we ship Reach and get an opportunity to talk about this universe that we’re planning, we hope it will capture people the same way that Halo did. And once we’re able to set business stuff aside and just concentrate on the creative stuff that we’re making, I think that’s the moment that fans will understand that everything’s okay.
I’d say, in the meantime, just look at the details of the deal: Bungie remains independent. We control and own what we create. And listen, if you’ve been wishing you could play Bungie games on your console of choice and your device of choice, we’re looking at all possibilities and we want to share our stories with you. If I were a fan, sure, you’re going to have your reaction and we understand that – but take a deep breath, dig a little bit and understand the details and know that it’s just the beginning of a great new era for Bungie and fans of the games that we make.
