Details on Bungie's project 'Destiny' emerge

[Pleiades]

A previously sealed court document obtained by the Los Angeles Times outlines the contract developer Bungie signed with Activision back in 2010 to create a new franchise.

According to the contract, Bungie will develop four "sci-fantasy, action shooter games," code named "Destiny," that will be released every other year starting next fall. Bungie will also put out four downloadable expansion packs, code named "Comet," every other year beginning fall of 2014.

Additionally, the first "Destiny" game will be released first on Xbox 360 and potentially Microsoft's new console. The other three games will then be released on consoles from Microsoft and Sony as well as PC.

Also detailed in the contract is that Bungie is potentially working on another Marathon game, which the studio cannot devote no more than 5 percent of its staff to while working under Activision.

The document was made public as part of the on-going lawsuit between Activision and former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella. Both Bungie and Activision have been reached for comment.

Head over to the L.A. Times story to read the entire 27-page contract.

Update: Bungie issued the following statement tonight:

So, yeah. While we’re not ready to show you what we’ve been working on, we can reconfirm that we are hard at work on our new universe. We can’t wait for you to see it. See you starside in 2013.

Sources: GameInformer / LA Times / Bungie

This seems discussion worthy.

[Spiderpig24]

Well, this certainly is interesting. It pretty much announces 4 games from them and 4 expansion packs, but the releases are what got me. It looks like the first game will be a Microsoft exclusive, while the following 3 will be multiplatform. I wonder if the reason behind this is a Microsoft contract, or if they are just going to be "Loyal" to the system they spent so much time on by releasing the first game as an exclusive. Now I wonder if the game stories will be related, as playing the second through fourth games on the PS3/PC without playing the first could be an issue (Like ME2 without ME1, but virtual comic book added). Rather strange.

Edit: It seems that it won't be exclusive, but will be released on other platforms at a later date:

The first Destiny game will be available on Xbox 360 as well as “the next successor console platform released by Microsoft,” which the contract refers to as Xbox 720. While the first Destiny game will hit Xbox in fall of 2013, the contract states that it will hit PlayStation 3 in the fall of 2014 after a “joint technical feasibility analysis” that will determine whether the game “is able to be developed for the PS3 at quality and feature parity to the Xbox 360 version.” Releases of the Comet expansions will “be compatible with the Xbox 360, Xbox 720 and the Sony PlayStation 4.” A PC release is also mentioned.

I also thought this was interesting:

Other details about Bungie’s contract were also revealed, including the studio’s royalty payments and bonuses. For example, Bungie will receive a $2.5 million bonus if the first Destiny receives an aggregate score of 90 or better on GameRankings.com.

[Pleiades]

I have a feeling the timed exclusivity is a contract deal, and is set to be one of the big announcements from Microsoft at their E3 conference.

That quote about the GameRankings average is ridiculous.

[Spiderpig24]

I have a feeling the timed exclusivity is a contract deal, and is set to be one of the big announcements from Microsoft at their E3 conference.

That quote about the GameRankings average is ridiculous.

Timed exclusivity seems to be Microsofts big thing, with both games and DLC, so I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them announce it as part of their "Exclusives" like they have done before.

[Pleiades]

Timed exclusivity seems to be Microsofts big thing, with both games and DLC, so I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them announce it as part of their "Exclusives" like they have done before.

Lord knows they have little else in terms of exclusive content and first-party development. They'll want to milk the attention a new Bungie game gives them for all it's worth.

[hesit8]

Isn't there a launch schedule for each installment of this franchise? I thought I saw that somewhere. Microsoft is supposed to have the initial entry for a year then the sequel is supposed to go multiplatform. Excited to see what they have, hopefully it isn't Marathon...