Today, Bungie is one of the most prestigious indie developers on the planet. Destiny 2 has millions of players from around the world and is synonymous with the looter/shooter genre. But it didn't start out that way: Bungie used to be under the employ of Microsoft, having created the Halo franchise, before leaving that company to pursue their dreams of independence.
Then in 2010, Bungie signed a publishing deal with Activision which, according to co-founder and former exec Marty O'Donnell, was "bad from the start."
"Because I was in leadership and on the board of directors when we went with Activision, if there is any blame for going to Activision, I am part of it," O'Donnell said in an interview with YouTuber HiddenXperia. "We knew it was a risk right from the get-go, and it turned out to be exactly as bad as we thought it to be."
The interview discussed a range of topics about Bungie and the Halo franchise. A viewer eventually asked how O'Donnell felt when Bungie announced it was leaving Activision, to which he gave a humorous first response.
"Part of me was, 'Well, it's about time.' The other part of me was, 'Gee, I hope they get bought so that I get bought out of my stock.'"
O'Donnell was one of the controlling figures of Bungie since its earliest days and admitted that he contemplated returning to Microsoft after their first departure. What stayed his hand was Microsoft's requirement that they own any IP that Bungie made, which was why Bungie lost control of Halo when they left.
Activision offered a better deal--at least, on paper. Bungie would retain control of its IP in return for a 10-year exclusive publishing contract. However, Activision still tried to exert influence over Bungie in every way that they could, including firing O'Donnell in 2014.
O'Donnell characterized the partnership with a story about Activision's CFO at the time, Spence Neuman. While Activision's was increasingly persistent in its attempts to wrest control of the company, he told Neuman to "be nice to the goose," with Bungie being the goose laying Activision's golden eggs.
Neuman responded, "but sometimes there's nothing like a good foie gras."
Bungie left Activision in 2019, almost 9 years into their contract, and Spence Neuman was fired for letting the golden goose escape. Frankly, we think Bungie made the right call.
Source: HiddenXperia on YouTube