Should video game companies share political stances?
Sony have bought Destiny-makers Bungie in a $3.6bn, just weeks after Microsoft made waves with their purchase of Activision, in the latest deal in the ongoing IP battle between the two firms
The law firm Pomerantz LLP announced that they are investigating Activision Blizzard's fraud charge. Pomerantz LLP, a law firm that specializes in corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigations, disclosed in a press release that they have received information that Activision Blizzard did not notify investors beforehand of their split from their partner, Bungie, in concerns for the stock price falling; if this is true, they will be investigating whether this was a deliberate act or if some of the investors happened to not be aware of it. Activision Blizzard made an announcement on January 10th that they will be splitting from Bungie, the company that developed the Destiny series, after a 10-year partnership. Simultaneously, Bungie announced they have taken over the publishing rights for the Destiny franchise, which had been serviced by Activision Blizzard. This has caused Activision Blizzard's stock price to fall from $ 51.35 (10th 16:00) to $ 45.48 (11th 10:00) based on NASDAQ.
On December 10th, Bungie announced that they will be putting an end to their partnership with Activision and will take over the publishing rights for Destiny. It has been 10 years since Bungie split from Microsoft and partnered with Activision in 2010. According to the official announcement made on Bungie's website, the transition process for Bungie's acquiring the publishing rights to Destiny is already ongoing and past the early stages. Bungie plans to publish the franchise on their own after the transition process is finished. However, the Battle.Net service for the PC version of Destiny 2 won't be ended right away due to the transition. They also said that both Bungie and Activision will be ‘committed to making the handoff as seamless as possible'.
