Activision is a publisher not a developer like rockstar and infinity ward. To be honest Microsoft would of been the best fit because they already have the vision of a space epic but it obviously wouldn't work out with them due to hurt feelings and differences on how business would work. I would bet that maybe someone not well known To the space but someone like disney studios would have the Capitol and possibly the marketing muscle to make it all come together. Activision invested 500m into buying a portion of this IP so of course they will be able to influence the game a lot.