Bungie Studios to gain independence

Friday 05th October 2007, 08:08:00 PM, written by Carl Bender

Originally brought to light in a blog post on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, speculation has been rampant that Microsoft crown jewel Bungie would soon be departing the stable of internal XBox studios to strike out on their own. Today, Microsoft confirmed the speculation in a press release acknowledging Bungie Studios as a newly independent entity. Although the full details of the deal are not yet known, the original rumor centered around a group of private individuals with ties to Bungie purchasing the studio in order to put creative control back into Bungie's own hands.

Makers of the landmark Halo series - whose contribution to the XBox business could hardly be overstated - Bungie's working relationship with Microsoft had been the target of speculation in terms of whether the team might be chafing under the singular focus on Halo development. These rumors accompanied the departure of several prominent Bungie personages, such as Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian in 2003 and multiplayer design lead Max Hoberman late last year. Now able to develop new IPs across multiple platforms, Bungie Studios will be free "...to expand both creatively and organizationally...," in the words of studio head Harold Ryan. For their part, Microsoft will hold an equity interest in Bungie as well as control of the extremely valuable Halo IP.

Both companies intend to continue development of the immensely-popular Halo universe via future collaborative efforts.

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Latest Thread Comments (91 total)
Posted by Subtlesnake on Saturday, 06-Oct-07 16:14:21 UTC
Well, Microsoft have said they're looking to expand the universe in a broader way, to turn it into something like Star Wars. So I don't see why there has to be a direct sequel to Halo 3. Future games could simply take place in the same universe, telling different stories, with different mechanics (which is what they're doing with Halo Wars and the Peter Jackson project).

Posted by AlStrong on Saturday, 06-Oct-07 16:20:44 UTC
They do have an avenue open already with the Onyx Shield world, which they termed a micro-Dyson sphere. There we've got Cortana's originator (Dr. Halsey), CPO Mendez, some Spartan IIIs and Spartan IIs.Coming soon - Onyx Sphere: Walking EvolvedThey can still make more Halo games as long as the other installations exist.

Posted by Johnny Awesome on Saturday, 06-Oct-07 17:55:33 UTC
Fantastic deal for MS IMO. Good deal for Bungie if they can produce more hits and that remains to be seen...

Posted by Asher on Saturday, 06-Oct-07 21:01:55 UTC
I really didn't like Myth and Oni. I hope they don't give Halo the backseat for sequels to those games...

Posted by Cyan on Saturday, 06-Oct-07 22:40:44 UTC
Quoting patsu
Well... at this moment, according to that list, MS still have control -- unless that list is bogus (which sounds more and more likely to me).
Yes, a controlled control since they've gone over from being slaves to being friends, which is nice for Bungie (and MS) so they can create non rushed games. In the past I thought the best situation for non rushed games would be to go with Microsoft but was I wrong! Perhaps from here on and in the next generation things will get back to normal just like in the GC-Xbox-PS2 era.

Posted by Subtlesnake on Sunday, 07-Oct-07 13:45:28 UTC
Well, is there any evidence that Halo 3 was rushed? You'd think if Bungie needed a few more months, MS would have given them that time.

As for Halo 2, I think you have to remember that Bungie effectively scrapped 80% of their content half-way through, which was what forced them to crunch so hard, and have to ship the game before it was truly ready.

Posted by valioso on Sunday, 07-Oct-07 13:59:14 UTC
1up Interview With BUngie

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3163440

Posted by fireshot on Sunday, 07-Oct-07 14:05:00 UTC
They are not really independent if MS has a stake in them, kinda like SonySquaresoft?

Posted by StefanS on Sunday, 07-Oct-07 14:12:23 UTC
Quoting fireshot
They are not really independent if MS has a stake in them, kinda like SonySquaresoft?
Well, there's a large difference: Sony's holds currently 8.9% of S-E stocks and thus hasn't even a control stock. Meanwhile, MS owns 45% of Bungie and has the majority rights.

Posted by Silent_Buddha on Sunday, 07-Oct-07 18:31:24 UTC
Quoting Asher
I really didn't like Myth and Oni. I hope they don't give Halo the backseat for sequels to those games...
And here, Myth was the one thing I was really looking forward to from this. Although considering the IP is owned by another company puts a cramp in things.

I loved Myth. It was a game in the spirit of books like The Black Company series by Glen Cook. And I LOVE that series. :) I must have played the original Myth a bajillion times. :P

Makes me wonder if they will do anything to either regain the rights to Myth or possible make another Myth game to be published by the IP holder.

I can't imagine the IP for Myth is worth very much right now as the last game was a PoS. So hopefully they could get it back for fairly cheap.

Regards,
SB


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