Speaking to C&VG, EA’s David deMartini has confirmed that EA tried to entice Halo developer Bungie to partner with the super publisher. Fortunately, for Activision, a deal was not possible with the Washington based studio due to “a very specific set of criteria” that could not be met. A ten year partnership with rival Activision was later announced.
EA aren’t completely dejected, however, with deMartini confirming that, not only does he hope Bungie go on to make great games with Activision, but that his company would be interested in going in again and proposing a deal with the renowned studio should a “second development team” be created. He states:
“We had extensive conversations with them, but could never really figure out a deal that made sense for both of us. It just didn’t come to fruition. Obviously, they were able to come up with some kind of deal that made sense to Activision and made sense to Bungie and we hope they make great games.
“I don’t want to see them fail – I want them to be successful. And when they start up a second team, we’ll have other discussions with them about that game as well – because they’re a great studio. There are probably only 20 studios in the world that are that highest level – and they’re certainly one of them.”
The chances of a second team working on a new project is not impossible, with Bungie community boss Brian Jarrard commenting that such a venture was definitely feasible “down the road.”
Source: C&VG
