Yesterday’s humble-brag about Call of Duty’s success by Activision was done specifically to soften today’s blow; Bungie wants a divorce. The co-creators of several games together, Bungie has been working with Activision for eight years, and now they’re done.
While huge in scope and I’m sure drama-filled, publicly it looks like it’s going to be a pretty easy split. Activision has announced that Bungie will gain full control to the Destiny franchise, and Activision will resume creator-controlled IP’s.
Thank you Guardians. It’s been an honor and a privilege to help bring the world of Destiny to life for you. pic.twitter.com/EB1y19OTD8
— Activision (@Activision) January 10, 2019
The timing of the split comes when Activision is in the middle of some pretty big negative press. With the failure of Diablo’s mobile launch announcement, employee’s claiming unhealthy working standards, and a litany of growing concerns within the company as a whole, not just Blizzard but Activision-proper, it’s not hard to see why Bungie wants out.
The only upside to this is EA and Bethesda get a reprieve from fan annihilation as everyone stops and stares at the AcTITANICvision going down slowly, in flames.
In other news, GameStop is apparently getting a new owner. Two companies have shown interest in reviving the struggling brand, that’s been on the market for months, and that a change in ownership could happen as soon as February. All this is reported by GameSpot and The Wall Street Journal. According to the Journal, both Apollo Global Management and Sycamore Partners.
GameSpot is under the impression that it’ll go to Sycamore Partners because;
In Stargirl news, The Flash and Arrow director Glen Winter has been tapped to direct the pilot for Stargirl. Winter is a known commodity for DC t.v. shows, having apparently done the pilot episodes for Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Titans, and Doom Patrol; and even directed episodes of Smallville, The Flash and Arrow.
In related Smallville news, former series star and Batman and Robin actor John Glover is apparently in the new Shazam! film. The man who made Bane in the 90’s and then battled his son Lex Luthor as Lionel Luthor is apparently involved in the film in a unknown yet role.
Finally in Warner Bros./DC adjacent news, the good folks at Warner Bros Animation are making a Mortal Kombat animated film. The film will star The Soup and Community’s Joel McHale as well as Dexter’s Jennifer Carpenter. The rest of the cast is rumored by Revenge of the Fans to include Darin DePaul, Fred Tatasciore, Grey Griffin, Ike Amadi, Kevin Michael Richardson, Patrick Seitz, Robin Atkin Downes, Steve Blum and Jordan Rodriquez.
The interesting note is that Seitz and Blum have been voicing Scorpion and Sub-Zero in the games in recent years.