Aggrogate

Bungie and Activision join forces

After three years of relative independence, Bungie is teaming up with yet another software giant of dubious moral fiber. The makers of Halo (and Myth and Marathon) have announced an exclusive 10-year partnership with Activision.

Under the partnership, Activision gets exclusive publishing rights to all future Bungie games for the next decade. Bungie will make the games and Activision will package them, market them, and ship them out. Bungie is keeping its software sovereignty, though; the company will stay an independent firm and retain intellectual rights to all of its future games.

This is a major boon to Activision, which is seeing the makers of its biggest cash cow running away as if the company was on fire. Infinity Ward has been crumbling ever since the sackings of its studio heads, and the addition of Bungie to Activision's stable will help shore up the company's losses.

Either that, or Bungie will release Halo 4 and Bob Kotick will immediately run through Bungie's offices, hitting people with a ball-peen hammer.