October 2, 2007 - Microsoft has refused to deny rumours its subsidiary, Bungie, developer of the lucrative Halo franchise, was parting ways with the software giant.

Gaming e-zine 8BitJoystick, through a blog published on the website of newspaper Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reported that Bungie was leaving Microsoft so it could create new game series without being controlled by Microsoft or tied to the Xbox.

The source was identified as "a friend of mine who has someone close that works at Bungie".

"Apparently MS just wants Bungie to make Halo for the rest of their natural days, and Bungie doesn't like how MS is constantly trying to 'handle' everything they do," 8BitJoystick's source said.

Yet despite the explosive nature of the rumours, Microsoft refused to deny them, saying in a statement: "There's been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3."

And when contacted by gaming blog Kotaku, Bungie also refused to deny the rumours, referring queries to the company's PR agency.

8BitJoystick reported Microsoft would retain the rights to the Halo franchise but Bungie would be free to make new game series for whichever platform it wanted.

Bungie has been part of Microsoft Game Studios since 2000.

Losing Bungie would be a significant setback for Microsoft, which has earned billions from the Halo franchise.

The latest instalment, Halo 3, debuted last Tuesday and, in the first 24 hours, earned Microsoft $US170 million in the US and $6 million in Australia. In both countries, it became the biggest entertainment launch of all time, beating the opening day takings of any other game or movie.

The first two Halo games have sold nearly 15 million copies worldwide, about 8 million of which can be attributed to Halo 2.

After bloggers questioned the veracity of the 8BitJoystick report, the writer, Jacob Metcalf, said in the comments section of the site he was standing by his source and had no reason to doubt them.

"Given the amount of traffic my site has gotten from Microsoft.com and related domains I do think that this article has hit a nerve," he wrote.

Source: smh

There was definitely a mutual relationship there. However, good FPS come out all the time. I really think the exclusivity and marketing is what made Halo such a presence in the industry. Halo would not be the cultural icon it is today if not for MS. This is regardless of how MS benefited from the title. With that said, I'd like to see Bungie get a chance to do something different be it on their own or with MS.

I can definitely see Bungie wanting to do something different for a change. They were tired of working on the Halo series after 2 came out, and they went on record saying that their next game wouldn't be another Halo. Which turned out to be false of course. Bungie has been working on Halo since when, '97? '95? Can't remember for sure. But Halo was first being developed as an RTS game and then turned into an FPS during development. They must be sooo over it by now.

Couldn't care less as to whether this actually is true or not.

Why?

Because Halo as a franchise is still going to continue on, probably through Bungie's direction, via the upcoming Halo Wars; the project with Peter Jackson and of course the Halo movie.

If splitting from MS means that Bungie can start working on some other (hopefully awesome) games, while also continuing the legacy that is Halo than how is it a bad thing exactly? Chances are anything that Bungie were to do if they did split, would be on MS platforms anyway due to their good relationship.

Of course Bungie would need to raise the money to buy themselves back from Microsoft. Result unlikely.

Halo 3 is out. They don't need Bungie anymore I guess. But that would mean this is Microsoft is pulling out of the console race, which I don't think they will do. Although, something is very wrong at Microsoft if this is really true. 3 studios including Bungie being dissolved or leaving in such a short time period is very strange. :unsure:

Interesting timing...this begs the questions: is MS getting ready to to bow out of the console race? Consider the facts:

- First, you have $1 billion RRoD cost.

-Peter Moore announces he is leaving during E3.

-FASA Studio shuts down.

-Bizzare getting "let go".

-Mistwalker and Rare titles are now going to DS.

-Aaron Greenberg all but says that Microsoft has given up on Japan.

And now we have rumors that Bungie is moving on. I wonder if it really is possible that the 360 is going the way of Dreamcast, as much as I don't want that to be true. It will be interesting to see where things are when the dust settles.

I seriously doubt it, not after all the progress that Microsoft have made and the position they have as a rival to Sony now. Sure, the Wii's success might have come as a surprise to MS and perhaps even caught them off guard, but there is absolutely no way that MS are bowing out now. Sure, they've had their fair share of shit (RRoD for example) but even so I seriously doubt it when they've gained a reputation as a viable option in the console market and are gaining in popularity each and every day.

Plus, MS seems to have all the games that us 'hardcore' market want to play at the moment. We continually rant about how the Wii has nothing for us and that three or four massive upcoming titles still isn't enough. We continually say how the PS3 doesn't have enough games yet to justify the pricepoint and we also continually kept on looking at MS's lineup this year and was amazed. I don't need to name the big titles that have hit recently, I don't need to name the big titles still to come this year and I don't need to name the games that are still on their way for next year.

The 360 is only getting started (as are the other consoles) so yeah, no, ain't gonna happen people.

But I 'spose the whole fanboy line is going to come for this post, so whatever.

Nah you don't sound like a fanboy. I was just thinking how much the iPod is whipping the zune yet MS are releasing the zune 2 soon. If they are sticking with that then my points on the 360 going the way of the Dreamcast are pretty much void.

Prez is right, though. MS have ultimate ownership of Bungie (I think), and they would have to buy back the controlling shares from MS. However, i guess there's nothing stopping them from "doing a Rare" and jumping ship and forming a new company

But maybe Bungie could work on spearheading the Macintosh gaming industry? Like old times... maybe a new Marathon game?

I think this is the short and sweet of it - they may want to do so, but getting away from MS is going to be easier said than done.

Well as the good majority of you probably know by now, Microsoft/Bungie have announced what the deal is. If you haven't however, then point your cursor towards the following:

Bungie/MS Split

This seems somewhat vague as to exactly what their connection is now with regards to design authority etc - I guess more remains to be determined in this.

First of, this rumor has spun way out of control. It began with a bunch of people IN Bungie wanting to leave and do something different after nearly 10 years of developing Halo. Bungie - as in the development studio is now, and forever will be owned by M$ and will be making Halo spin offs for all time. Bungie has already announced that they are thinking of (read 'were told by MS to') making more games based in the halo universe but not pertaining to the halo rings or the human/covenant war.

Now this I seriously doubt. I would be more worried about the PS3 going the way of the GameCube (still a very unlikely scenario). Microsoft is in second in the console war, right behind the Wii and very recently made a cool $300 mil off first week halo 3 sales. They also gain millions a month off Xbox Live subscriptions and much more on software sales. Their biggest problem is definitely RRoD (I personally am on my second system) though for the biggest company in the world who gains billions a month I don't think they're gonna throw in the towel because of it.

Interview with Brian Jarrard of Bungie

It's certainly in Bungie's interest, Halo has taken them to great success, and now it's time for their talent to be used in a greater variety of places, I can't wait to see what they come up with! From the looks of it, a close relationship with Microsoft will remain.

Also in the short term it appears Bungie will remain developing games for MS platforms, any venturing outside that space looks to be something that would happen a few years from now.

Its pretty apparent Microsoft is changing their business model 1/4th of the way through the life of the 360. They are content to ride it out on the backs of their 3rd parties, dump the 2nd party studios they've had long-term relationships with, and also see what changes they can make in their 1st party structure. I would not be shocked in the least to click over to GAF in the next 6 months and see that Rare is up on the auction block as well.

Oh and I'm calling it now.. Bungie's next game will be something on the Nintendo DS and it will be published by Microsoft as it seems Microsoft has a hard-on for the little handheld.

IMO it was a mistake buying Rare in the first place.
They lost their touch *just* as they changed ownership.

I mean, apart from a spruced up port there's been nothing of true Rare quality that they've made since the change.

I'm glad Bungie split from MS. I hope they go back to making Myth. :D

Viva Pinata was a return to the old Rare form. Not sure if you've played it or not (or whether you agree/disagree) but I've always been a massive Rareware fan and yeah, I can definitely say the Viva Pinata was a return to Rare's fine form as far as I'm concerned.

From the little time I've had with it so far, Kameo isn't half bad either...

Rare always manages to turn stale concepts into fresh, delicious new games.