“Aggghh... should have seen... this coming.

The creators of Halo have stunned the industry by signing a ten year publishing deal with Activision. While Microsoft retains control of the Halo franchise, Activision will publish all games based on Bungie’s new intellectual property, an unannounced action title set in an original universe.

Notwithstanding the occasional PC port, Bungie titles have been exclusive to Microsoft consoles for the better part of a decade. With the new agreement covering “multiple platforms and devices”, the studio’s latest creation may well make an appearance on the Atari Jaguar or even the PlayStation 3.

The Activision announcement follows Bungie’s October 2007 decision to break away from Microsoft and establish itself as an independent company. Did the recent internal strife at Activision threaten to derail the deal? Not according to Bungie Design Director Joseph Staten, who told Gamasutra that “Our situation is so fundamentally different that we’re not concerned at all.” Unlike Infinity Ward, Bungie isn’t owned by Activision.

We’re unlikely to learn more about the new project in the near future, with Bungie Community Director Brian Jarrard telling Edge Online that Halo: Reach will remain the studio’s public focus throughout 2010.