[Update: This piece was published on Gamasutra on July 9.]

A number of observers have hypothesized that the recent, vaguely-announced contract renegotiation between increasingly huge publisher Activision and star developer Infinity Ward may have been catalyzed by last year’s surprise regained independence on the part of Bungie Studios.

The move was revealed by Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling, who stated that the studio has renegotiated its deal with owner Activision, and will have “complete control” over its next project, a new intellectual property. (In an email, Bowling told me the company isn’t ready to go into any further detail just yet.)

The Bungie connection

The Bungie-related speculation is sensible, and almost certainly at least partially accurate, particularly from Infinity Ward’s perspective. Like Bungie, Infinity Ward was founded as an independent studio, and was acquired by its publishing partner; both studios retain key leadership; and both reached their incredible retail success after they were acquired.

Both also left their major properties–Halo and Call of Duty–in the hands of their publishers after years of unbroken franchise development, freeing up the studios to get back to what put them on the map in the first place: developing new titles.

Seeing the kind of leverage Bungie leadership was able to wield when negotiating its amiable departure from Microsoft ownership surely inspired Infinity Ward’s Grant Collier et al to knock on the doors of Activision brass, revenue sheets in hand.

Breaking the never-ending dev cycle

But inspiration may also have come from somewhere a little closer to home: Blizzard Entertainment, the fully-owned-but-nigh-untouchable rockstar developer of WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, a subsidiary of soon-to-be Activision partner Vivendi. (more…)

In the opening staff roll to Metal Gear Solid 4, there is a standalone credit for a “Rumble Director.” That is awesome.