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Bungie and Microsoft officially say Buh-Bye
Posted under Microsoft, TOG, XBL Radio, Xbox 360 by The Other Guy 1
Earlier this week we posted a story from 8BitJoystick. com about some inside info he received about Bungie and Microsoft’s relationship to end in the near future.
Well good job goes out to 8BitJoystick. com for getting the scoop on the story. Its nice to see a independent site post this way before all the big dogs. Today Game Spot put out an article confirming what 8 bit has been saying all along.
Halo 3-maker set to “return to its independent roots” with MS retaining a minority financial stake in the company.
Posted Oct 5, 2007 8:52 am PT
Rumors have been bubbling over the Internet cauldron all week that Bungie would be jumping ship from its corporate masters at Microsoft. The rumours seemed unlikely to be true, as Bungie has been wholly owned by the Microsoft machine since 2000.
Today, though, the unlikely became reality. This morning, Bungie announced it was officially splitting away from Microsoft to become an independent, privately held developer, Bungie LLC. Microsoft will continue to retain a minority stake in Bungie, and continue its long-standing publishing agreement with the company.
“While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our Halo entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the Halo universe,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios.
Bungie will remain in its current location in Kirkland, Washington, and will retain its primary focus on Microsoft platforms. Harold Ryan, Bungie’s studio head, commented, “This… will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally.” Ryan also stated that the studio would continue to work on Halo, and “beyond.”
“Bungie is like a shark,” said Bungie founder Jason Jones. “We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees.” (Emphasis in the original.)
Bungie’s latest release, Halo 3, has nabbed $300 million in sales in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling video game in history…
This only looks like Bungie’s relationship is now as a 2nd party dev to MS. It’s similar to the relationship between David Jaffe’s new company and Sony. The games will still be published by MS, but Bungie will have more control over what games they are going to be, and don’t have to be bogged down by deadlines and such. Not only that, but Bungie can make anything they want. If they want to make a new IP, they can. This actually is best for both MS and Bungie. So it’s like they’re gone, but not gone.
Good for both Bungie and MS. Bungie gets their independence to do more of their own thing. Microsoft gets to let go of a most likely expensive developer but still owns the Halo franchise and will still be the publisher for any Halo universe games that Bungie makes. They also have a “long term” agreement that MS will publish any other game from their studio.
It will be interesting to see what will come out of this.
Not to be critical but to me BUNGIE is a “One trick pony” so far.
A game does not make a company. (Unless it is HALO)
However perhaps this will mean that Bungie will try to develop different content. Time will tell. One thing for certain they have one hell of a catalyst for new ventures. And if they run into budgeting problems; we can count on NEW MAP WEDNESDAYS!
What I would like to know is, was this seperation set in stone on this date for some time now? If so, maybe this explains why the HALO 3 campaign was not as good as it could have been. They were rushed to finish the game?
-Rust.
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