Why ‘one studio, one project’ is best for Bungie

The publishing deal forged between Bungie and Activision is fraught with caveats.

Activision gets distribution rights, but doesn’t own the IP; Bungie remains independent, but it’s locked into the deal for a whopping 10 years.

This has lead every games journalist to play pundit over whether that means the famous studio, which created the blockbuster Halo franchise, can work for other publishers aside from Activision.

The answer is it could – but it won’t.

As part of an in-depth interview talking about ‘Bungie’s New Chapter’ community director Brian Jarrard confirmed to Develop that the studio will return to its ‘one studio, one team, one project’ roots once work on its fifth and final Halo game is done.

"We have come to realise that Bungie does its best work when we have all of our best and brightest minds focused on a singular goal," he told Develop.

Previously, Bungie had sub-divided as its Halo games became more and more popular, with units dedicated to multiplayer map content, sequels like ODST and Reach – and lastly the new IP it has signed to Activision.

But that won’t go on for much longer, said Jarrarrd.

"The types of plans and vision we have for the new IP and universe – this decade-long entertainment experience – is crazy ambitious and the most challenging thing we’ve ever worked on. That will take the might of our entire studio of great people to make it a reality.
"That makes it hard to think about a way to split off and fragment our talent and energies across multiple projects. So that means we’ll be all hands on deck and laser-focused on making our next universe something really awesome."

Click here to read the full interview with Jarrard.