It's no secret that Head of Xbox Phil Spencer is a big Destiny fan and after the news that Bungie is splitting from its partnership with publisher Activision while retaining the publishing rights to the Destiny franchise, Spencer tweeted at Bungie saying he's looking forward to working with Bungie in the future.

Spencer wasn't the only major figure in the games industry to respond publicly to the news, with Epic Games' VP Mark Rein being among them. There is a general optimism among gamers, developers, and others in the industry of the news about Bungie going fully independent and being able to move forward with its Destiny franchise, unlike when the developer's deal with Microsoft saw Bungie leaving the Halo franchise it created with Microsoft.

While some theorists out there are trying to read into Spencer's tweet to mean that Bungie is going back to Microsoft or creating a special exclusive deal with Microsoft, it's wiser not too read too far into Spencer's excitement and his hope for the future. Bungie being independent should open them up to opportunities to work with multiple partners and platforms, and after coming off a relationship with Activision that has been reportedly contentious for years, players shouldn't count on Bungie giving up any part of its newfound independence.

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While Microsoft has made some big moves in acquiring studios to beef up its first-party lineup of games for the Xbox, it's unlikely that Bungie would be counted among those acquisitions in the near future. But it will definitely be interesting to see how the future of Destiny appears on Xbox consoles, as it has generally been regarded as a bit of the ignored child in comparison to PC and PS4.

Many questions remain about the future of the Destiny franchise, but some are predicting that Destiny 3 will release in 2020. While Destiny 2 will remain in PC in Blizzard's BattleNet, fans will have to wait and see how Bungie handles the future of the franchise, what platforms it appears on, and any kind of platform exclusives, which have drawn constant ire from fans.

Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Phil Spencer