RSSHas Bungie Really Left Microsoft?
By Ed Oswald | Published October 3, 2007, 1:56 PM
Nobody's talking yet, but a new rash of reports are beginning to make it seem like the breakup of Bungie and Microsoft may be more than just a silly Internet rumor.
Such a relevation would come as a huge shock not only to Xbox 360 fans, but the industry at large as well. Together, the two companies have created one of the largest game franchises in history, and just came off the biggest entertainment launch ever with Halo 3.
Rumors began to circulate Monday afternoon after blogger Jacob Metcalf posted to the Digital Joystick blog saying the two companies had parted ways over disagreements surrounding the Halo franchise. Apparently, Bungie wanted to move on and Microsoft wasn't quite letting them, according to Metcalf.
His post said that while the company will likely continue to produce games for Xbox, it will now be free to also produce for other systems. An official announcement is to be forthcoming, however Metcalf said it likely will not appear until after October 6 so as not to impact Microsoft's release of quarterly results.
It's not clear what Metcalf meant by the breakup affecting quarterly results, especially considering the fact that Microsoft will be releasing those numbers October 25. A non-disclosure agreement on the deal between Bungie and the Redmond company does expire this week, however.
Metcalf followed up the post later that night reiterating his initial post and saying that he was receiving reports of locks being changed at Bungie headquarters, and that Bungie employees have refused to talk about the company's partnership.
Over the 48 hours, this story has continued to develop, with others chiming in with information they had received themselves. Game Informer claimed it was able to collaborate Metcalf's story, adding that it had learned Microsoft had gained the right to first refusal of future Bungie games.
So far, all that Microsoft has said is the following: "There's been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3." Bungie has refused to comment publicly, referring inquiries to Microsoft's public relations department.
Sources with knowledge of the situation are telling BetaNews that whatever has happened, it is unknown at least for the moment to the Xbox team. "If there is an issue, it is way above anybody's pay grade that I know," one source mused.
Furthermore, sources say that Bungie executives were still in the global address book, which Metcalf's source had claimed they had been removed.
part of the problem is issues with compatibility... Bungie wants to have a universal compatibility... MS wants proprietary... Its been an issue for years, but when H2 became Vista only for PCs. It came to a furious conclusion that MS will just do what it wants regardless of subcontractors desires to increase sales saturation... Meaning NO H2CE for XP... Least for now... However the beta Dlls are out there and Do work at this point to make DX games work in XP... How this is going to play out for Bungie is still in question... But this much is certain. IF MS wants to have games for windows they are going to have to bend a little on the demands of the developers on the subcontractor side...
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|First off, Microsoft Owns Bungie, and they own the Halo IP.
The only thing I think might happen is for the Bungie studio to be bought back by investors with a clause that Microsoft has First Refusal Publishing rights on all Bungie games. Not to mention Microsoft keeping the Halo IP.
Lets remember here folks, when you make an aquisition of a studio you gain ownership of all its Intellectual Property, unless it is sold to other suits(see Myst).
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|shows what i know. i thought microsoft bought bungie after halo 1
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|Microsoft acquired them shortly after Bungie, who was a Mac OS gaming company, they introduced Halo at E3 in 1999, few weeks later Microsoft bought them, and then ported it to the xbox instead of the mac. The game was originally made to run on only OpenGL, it did not require anything but an on board graphics card. It looked so sexy, I remember waiting for it back in the day.
Only reason I own an xbox, After Halo 2 (so easy) I didnt care about buying Halo 3 and an 360. Excited to someday play it but won't buy it.
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|Should be noted that Bungie had most titles out on PC and Mac during the later part of the 90's. They expanded.
And halo was originally a Mac/PC game not just Mac
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|then, again, you dont just bail from your parent company just because you want to. it owns you. sounds like FUD to me.
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|The majority of the original Bungie folk left ages ago. What was left was a name, a brand and a few loyal old-schoolers along with a huge team to create a huge game.
There was a little bit of that Bungie charm in Halo 3, but it felt like a last-minute addition.
I'm currently playing the remake of Marathon 2 on XBL Arcade and it makes me horribly nostalgic.
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|It makes sense if they do... MS has slowly degraded the halo franchise into a bloated marketing giant. The Halo franchise has gone down hill fast, very fast.
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|Care to explain how in your world the bestselling game on the Xbox = going downhill?
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|Please explain in further details.
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|Who cares. Bungie has made a name for itself, why not expand? Either way it wouldn't be the end of games for the 360, just less exclusivity.
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|Bummer. I was *so* looking forward to the Halo MMORPG.
/sarcasm
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|- level building
+ thugging retards in groups
like a giant orgy of pulse rifles and submachine guns
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|Last I heard there was no plans for another version of Halo anyway...
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|Does this mean no more Halo games? I wanted to see the Grey Team lost in space come out with something totally new. Or maybe see a concentration another character in the Halo story line.
cfgamble
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|If there were more Halo games, I think it implies multi-platform.
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|This whole story started with a blog about a guy who's "close friend's friend" heard something. I wouldn't start the hype just yet. Not to mention MS owns Bungie...
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|Yeah, this is why I've added what we've found out since then. Like I said in the story, we've been told Bungie is still in the Microsoft address book.. when this guy's source said it had been taken out.
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|"Nobody's talking yet, but a new rash of reports are beginning to ..."
So, did these reports come from a machine?
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|A bunch of machines actually. We call it "The Internet". :p
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|We call them "basement dwellers" round these parts.
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|a bunch of self executing scripts actually. we call them fanboys.
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|Well, we wish they would self execute. Darwin's slacking lately...
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