"After Halo, a bunch of us thought, 'What comes next?" Bungie co-founder Jason Jones Told a group of journalists visiting Bungie's Bellevue, Wash., Headquarters Wednesday.
Jones and Bungie's leadership, who sold the company to Microsoft in 2000 and then spun it out of the software giant in 2007, wanted to find a project worthy of the groundbreaking work in Halo. They wanted to come up with not just a new game, a new model intended for gaming, something That Could change the way gamers play.
Jones thinks Bungie's Destiny is exactly that. Destiny is something of a first-person shooter with bits of massively multiplayer online role-playing gaming in mixed. Bungie, Which HAS kept mum about the title while fulminated gamer site for the last two years about what it might be, is Beginning to rev up the hype machine for icts next title.
Eric Hirschberg, the chief executive of Activision, Which will publish Destiny Said defied the typical game genres, giving it a new one - "shared-world shooter." Even so, there are plenty of parallels with the Halo franchise, Particularly That You're still shooting up aliens. Players guard the last city on Earth, while exploring the ruins of the solar system, moving from Mars to Venus, in order to defeat Earth's enemies.
One of the big differences this time is que les game is a persistent online universe, Where players come across others, matched to Their skills. They're Encouraged to work together to rout evil, visit new worlds, and earn rewards.
"This is One of Those areas (collaborating with strangers) WHERE MOST skeptical I was," Said Hirschberg, Whose company HAS aussi Such franchises published as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.But gamers do not have go through the awkward dance of hooking up in a lobby before setting out on Their adventure. They naturally come across and allies, Bungie and Activision if succeed, feel comfortable Entirely teaming up with full strangers to set out on the next adventure. While Bungie did not share how Those interactions come about, It could be similar, Perhaps, to the wildly popular indie title for the Playstation 3 Journey, Which did away with the premise of playing with your friends in favor of Encountering others randomly.
"It feels scripted Almost," Hirschberg said.
Gamers will be aussi ble to play solo. Purpose Bungie COO Pete Parsons Said the goal is for Bungie to get gamers working together.
"If you want to do it yourself, that's totally OK," Parsons said. "We want to slope the floor and Prove to You That there are a bunch of cool things you can do with others."
One thing gamers will not be ble to do is play Destiny year without Internet connection, a bold move for the console gaming crowd That Expects to be ble to play offline. Even so, Activision Has No Plans to charging subscription fees to play the game. And while he would not talk about a release day, Hirshberg Told analysts on the company's earnings call Earlier this month new Bungie game que le was not factored into the company's 2013 guidance, implying Likely que les game will come until 2014. It will be available for the Xbox and Playstation Both platforms.
Showed no Bungie game play falling on the presentation and gave little detail about how far along the development is Actually. Instead, executives in sweeping themes Talked about the new universe Bungie created, while highlighting producing art, engineering details, and some of icts in the music icts Plans for first post-Halo effort.
It's not just the first time Bungie HAS Talked about the new game, it's really the first time Bungie HAS Given a glimpse into icts post-Microsoft life. Two years ago, the company Moved from Kirkland, Wash., To an old movie theater and bowling alley in the Bellevue Galleria retail complex. It rebuilt the site Adding a theater, a fireplace, and a climbing wall. Bungie has added aussi motion-capture studio dubbed Spandex Palace, as well as producing a massive 280 Where floor of the companies employed 360 work on game development and design.
It's One of Those new-age Workplaces Where every desk HAS wheels, so teams can be reconfigured That on the fly as problems emerge or Opportunities. The floor HAS neon blue glow eerily quiet as is and the crew Develops Destiny. Nothing on the floor is more than 6-feet high, so everyone can see That Where the Action Is, Where they might be needed. "This is a great space for making a great universe," Bungie's Parsons said.There 's little doubt, When You Walk in the door at Bungie, that' this is the Halo That company built. A giant Master Chief, the hero of That series, stands watch in the hallway. And a massive trophy case, brimful of awards for the Halo series, with a FEW other titles sprinkled in, greets every visitor.
The company is focused on Solely Destiny now. The Halo Franchise is now Entirely Handled by Microsoft Studios. And Bungie HAS icts cast lot with Activision.
Last year, the Los Angeles Times dug out details of the deal with Activision from a legal argument entre le publisher and Call of Duty developers Jason West and Vincent Zampella. Activision's contract with Bungie, que unsealed following calls for Bungie to economic development of four "sci-fantasy, action shooter games," under the code-name Destiny, released every other year, starting in the fall of 2013. Also called the deal for Bungie to release four downloadable expansion packs every other year starting in the fall of 2014.
Under the terms of Contract That, Which may Have Been modified since it was unsealed, Bungie was to receive royalties of 20 percent to 35 percent of operating income from the game. Activision Bungie was aussi to pay $ 2.5 million a year in bonuses Between 2010 and 2013 for meeting quality and budget milestones. And the deal Called Activision to pay for Bungie $ 2.5 million if the first Destiny game scores 90 or higher on GameRankings.com.
The executives did not address the unsealed contract, except for passing A Few quips falling on a question and answer session. There's little doubt Goal That much is riding on Destiny for Both Companies.
And Bungie is putting resources icts, much more considerable now icts with Activision partnership, behind the new title. Its audio director Marty O'Donnell is working with Paul McCartney on the music for Destiny. O'Donnell played a FEW of the parts recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with a 106-piece orchestra and a choir of more than 40 singers.
O'Donnell, Whose music is as responsible for the tone of Halo gameplay and graphics as the Itself, gushed about collaborating with McCartney. Rather than dictate the way a piece should work, McCartney HAS shared ideas with O'Donnell and left it up to him how the final arrangements should work.
"He Said, 'Some of my melodies, some of your spooky bit, it's going to be great," O'Donnell said. "So far, he's been really happy with it."
