So obviously, the news came out recently that Bungie has partnered up with Activision for 10 years. The outrage was immediate, Bobby Kotick was called as many terrible things as a community of gamers could come up with, and I'm sure more than one voodoo doll was made. 
 
But, come on, aren't we overreacting a bit?
 
I mean, maybe we should actually look at the details of this partnership. It's a 10-year publishing contract, meaning that Activision's going to be supplying the money and printing out copies of the game. For the people crying out that Activision is going to start exploiting them for everything they have...probably not. In fact, DEFINITELY not. Activision doesn't OWN Bungie. Activision just has exclusive publishing rights for a still independent developer. From what I understand, it's pretty similar to what they were doing with Halo already, and it sounds a lot like the EA Partners Program. Plus, they get to keep their IP rights. Even Microsoft, who's been publishing them for oh so many years, has kept Halo, which is why so many people like Bungie in the first place. That's why you get Halo Wars, and the less said about that, the better! Finally, they're going to be able to go multiplatform. Multi! That means all the people who are sad because their console of choice doesn't get one of the most critically acclaimed shooters and great online setup that comes with it have a chance of it coming to them now!
 
I can barely see a downside to this. Is it really so bad that it's coming out of Activision? It's just getting to be blind hate for a company simply because they're big, or maybe you can't forgive them for the Infinity Ward kerfuffle. That shouldn't stop you from finding a game interesting. This is something good, you know? It's a critically acclaimed developer working with a large publisher, and it's likely nothing but gold will come from it.
 
And no, I don't really think this was an act of revenge against Infinity Ward. It may not be obviously apparent, but contract deals and legal work take quite a lot of time and talks to iron out. Surely, there have been conversations going on about this for MONTHS behind the scenes. The announcement now, though, makes it feel that way (though it is possible the announcement was rushed to try and get a little positive press for a change).
 
So yeah. Anything POSITIVE to add to this? I don't want to hear baseless speculation about how Bobby Kotick will eat their souls and then find a way too keep their new property. I'd like an actual DISCUSSION as to what you think of this, not just that Activision sucks. It kinda doesn't, it just seems no one will ever be happy with anything they do.