So, Destiny released recently, and it got panned critically, being mauled by players, and even the games media, which otherwise is very forgiving with big budget overhyped AAA games, awarding them with inflated scores. However, in Destiny’s case, it’s become a ripple effect, as it looks like the negative reception of the game from one site has emboldened others to actually speak their mind on what they really think about the game.
Now, it seems like all of that might have come at a great cost to Bungie- to be specific, the poor reception may have cost them as much as $2.5 billion in bonuses. That’s a pretty big blow to take, even if it is only 0.5% of the game’s estimated $500 million budget.
This fact comes to us courtesy of the actual contract between Bungie and Activision, which is public because of the old case between Activision and West and Zampella following the release of Modern Warfare 2:
“Activision shall pay to Licensor a quality bonus (the “Quality Bonus”) in the amount of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000) should Destiny Game #1 achieve a rating of at least 90 as determined by gamerankings.com (or equivalent reputable services if gamerankings.com is no longer in sen/ice) as of thirty (30) days following the commercial release of Destiny Game #1 on Xbox 360.”
Ironically enough, Zampella and West themselves just released their newest game, Titanfall, earlier this year, and it turned out to be a better received game than Destiny in the end.
Fate has a sense of humor.
