EA had 'extensive conversations' with Bungie before Activision partnership

Yikes, what a scary thought THAT is. Just imagine all of Bungie's future games having the online code thingie to unlock "the rest of" online content and online play. Oh wait, Activision will undoubtedly follow the same business plan. Oh well, there goes the hobby...

I still feel like EA partners would have been a better fit for them.....I mean based off of what we know about Bungie/Activision it sounds a LOT like EA/Respawn......so I am curious as to what they couldn't work out.....

come on bungie really?....

Whoa! Surely they didn't talk to Uisoft and 2K as well?

yea, they probably talked to everybody.

The Kotick went down to Kirkland,
He was looking a I.P. to steal,
He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind,
And was willing to make a deal,

When he came across this top Studio,
With a new franchise that they got,
The Kotick jumped on the corpse of the ward,
And said "Bunge Let me tell you what",

You wouldn't have caught me saying this a couple years ago, but what a loss not going with EA over Activision.

Also, I have no sympathy for anyone who whines over the fact that they bought it used and lost content. For a $5 difference, support the developer of the game your playing. I'd probably buy the code for additional content if the game was OLD and still kicking, not new.

The problems with the online code system are many; aside from the fact you won't be able to play online or access certain content by renting a game or purchasing a used copy, it also prevents friends from being able to share copies to try out. It also prevents folks without broadband access from being able to have the features that should rightfully already be accessible on the $60 disc they just paid for new. Multiple systems in your home means you must have a separate new copy of each game to be able to get all the features. And most worrisome is the fact that now developers will be able to fully dictate what constitutes a "full copy" on the original game disc; do you really want to have to wait for stuff that may actually be on the disc to be "unlocked" by an online code when you get it home? And what if it means there's less and less actual features and quality stuff on the disc to begin with, and their plans are to milk you bone-dry via downloadable content, which again, could and should have been already on the disc to begin with?

Oh yes, there's DEFINITELY a problem with this, and I think a lot of gamers share that opinion quite strongly. But it won't matter if the companies who begin practicing these Draconian policies end up turning a profit on them. The only way gamers will be able to have any say at all is to vote with our wallets and simply refuse to buy their products; otherwise we will have no right to complain about it. So it comes down to a choice, I guess, for all of us.

I honestly don't believe EA is any less 'corporate' than Activision. Both have had issues with developers over the years. Activision is what people are hearing about now, but it wasn't long ago that people we saying the same thing about EA.

It certainly doesn't surprise me that everyone came out of the woodwork to court Bungie after they left the Microsoft fold. That probably heard from Take Two and Sony. If I were Sony, I would have contacted Bungie.

It does somewhat surprise me that despite wanting independence, Bungie did ultimately partner with another company, but perhaps they realized distribution was going to be an issue going alone. I suspect long term either Bungie or Activision will regret the deal, but all will be peachy in the near term. And all eyes will certainly be on Bungie for their post Halo output.

Didn't Bungie leave Microsoft because they wanted to start a new franchise? What happens when they decide they want to start yet another franchise and Satan (I mean Kotick) tells them that they have to keep making sequels for the game. I am willing to bet that under their new contract, Bungie will have to release at least 7 games from this 1 franchise. I also bet that Satan (sorry, Kotick), will have another development team on the project ala Call of Duty, so we get a game a year.

We already had several of them. Its called Halo now.

I bet if Bungie starts making plans for another franchise with EA behind Activision's back, contract or no-contract, Activision will be pissed (just like with IW).

So, British politics and the gaming world aren't so different after all.