Bungie and Microsoft Split. Kind of.

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May 2012

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May 28 - Memorial Day

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[Surtur]

Well, I mentioned the rumours in the Halo 3 thread, so I thought I might as well follow that up with this new info.

Looks like it's official now: they're kind of not totally owned by Microsoft anymore.  My guess is that they were sick of working exclusively on Halo and Halo-related products, so they split to have a chance of doing something different for awhile.  Does this mean we'll be seeing Bungie products on other systems now?  Well... probably not.  Microsoft will apparently continue to hold a minority share in the company, but even more importantly, the publishing agreement between the two companies will remain intact.  And I doubt Microsoft is likely to start publishing Bungie games for the PS3. 

Maybe the DS.

[TheContact]

I wouldn't mind seeing them do a sequel to Oni, actually.  I really enjoyed that game.

[Kia_Purity]

Wow. I didn't think that'd happen... after all, didn't Microsoft buy them out? O.o

[TheContact]

Yes, but I think it was well known within the industry that several people at Bungie weren't very happy with the results of the deal.  So two things could happen - those people could leave Bungie and start something new, in which case Microsoft really keeps nothing but a name.  Or, Microsoft could let them go, let them keep the name, studio, etc., but in return, get first dibs on publishing rights to new games they create.

So in the end, it makes sense for MS to let them go and keep the name.