Ex-Bungie Board Member on Activision Deal; Bad From The Start

Marty O’Donnell comes out to give his two cents.

This week IGN has a great story on ex-Bungie board member and composer Marty O’Donnell who confirms what many of us have been speculating for years now; that the publishing deal between Bungie and Activision was a bad idea from the start. The publishing partnership was formed back in 2010 and has since produced Destiny and Destiny 2, both games seeing their own controversies over misleading promises, content releases, and the perception that the games favored shameless greed over providing a quality product.

In January 2019 Bungie split off from Activision and Destiny 2. Perhaps the most disturbing comment in O’Donnell’s interview is Activision’s CFO looking on the company as a goose ready to be stuffed and then slaughtered.

During the dinner, O’Donnell says he was talking to the Activision CFO about a saying, “Be nice to the goose,” (with Bungie being the goose laying golden eggs for Activision). According to O’Donnell, the CFO told him that he liked the analogy, “but sometimes there’s nothing like a good Foie Gras” (the controversial food made by force-feeding geese before slaughter). “I get a chill even telling that story,” says O’Donnell, “the red flag went off.”

Bungie has of course never fully confirmed that Activision was behind the more greedy aspects of Destiny and Destiny 2 but has instituted changes since the split that seem to confirm that speculation including an overhaul to the Eververse, seasonal events, and an increased focus on supporting Destiny 2 over a hypothetical Destiny 3 (Activision was apparently keen on transforming the game into churning out new versions every couple of years like its own properties).

Source: IGN