Activision's corporate overlords are perceived by players to have meddled detrimentally in Bungie's games. Specifically, players believe Activision was responsible for the implementation of a despised microtransaction system that triggered a huge backlash from fans during the first months of Destiny 2.

The game was published by Activision until December 31, 2018, when Bungie acquired the publishing rights to the franchise.

Activision is a leading worldwide developer, publisher, and distributor of interactive entertainment for various gaming consoles, handheld platforms, and PC, including blockbuster franchises like Call of Duty®, Crash®, and SpyroTM.

Specifically, Activision Blizzard said previously that Destiny 2: Forsaken failed to sell up to the company's expectations, though Bungie asserted that it wasn't disappointed with the game.

Bungie, of course, was originally owned by Microsoft and were the ones who developed Halo into Xbox's flagship franchise. Then, they partnered with Activision for Destiny before extracting themselves and becoming independent, and now they've been snapped up by Sony.

Activision split with Bungie because Destiny “was not meeting financial expectations” Activision has explained why it decided to part ways with Destiny developer Bungie and relinquish the publishing rights for the series.

Bungie terminated its publishing deal with Activision in 2019, after eight years; as per their agreement, Bungie retained all rights to Destiny and will self-publish future installments and expansions. This included transitioning Destiny 2 from using Activision's Battle.net to Steam.

Most publishers pay royalties based on the retail price of the book. That means if the book retails at $20, and the royalties rate is 5%, you will earn $1 per book sold. These kinds of royalties are often called “list royalties” or “retail royalties.”

Activision BlizzardActivision / Parent organizationActivision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. and Vivendi Games. It is traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol ATVI, and since 2015 has been a member of the S&P 500 Index. Wikipedia

Sony Interactive Entertainment has completed a deal with Bungie to purchase the Destiny studio for $3.6 billion USD. Bungie will run as an “independent subsidiary” of Sony, and will remain a multiplatform studio.

On Jan. 10, 2018, Bungie announced via its blog that the relationship between it and Activision - one that could be traced back eight years - was coming to an end. The statement, of course, came with the expected platitudes. Bungie thanked Activision for its work over those many years.

In January 2019, Bungie announced it was ending this partnership, and would take over publishing for Destiny. Sony Interactive Entertainment completed its acquisition of Bungie in July 2022, with Bungie remaining a multi-platform studio and publisher.