Bungie and Activision, right in the middle of the Infinity Ward debacle, has signed a mammoth sized deal. For the next 10, yes 10 years Activision will own exclusive worldwide publishing rights to the Halo developers newest IP and any games that are centred around that game’s universe, think Halo Wars.

This is a stunner to say the least; I think the best move made by Bungie was to keep control of the IP. This means that a layoff Infinity Ward style can’t happen as Activision wont own Bungie, in the event of a major disagreement Bungie will retain the IP.

Here is a quote from Activision’s Broadcast Media Centre:

“Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices. Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property. “

It seems a strange move for Bungie to be announcing such a massive deal before the launch of Halo: Reach, the last hurrah for the Halo series from Bungie. We do know the game will be created for multiple platforms thanks to the quote above.

Considering Bungie has been making Halo games for so long, what will they make next? And what level of success will it reach? It seems Activision is hoping for it to be a Call of Duty level franchise.

Below is the announcement video.