Bungie And Microsoft Part Ways

The rumours started earlier in the week are true, Bungie and Microsoft are parting company. MS will retain first dibs on any further Halo games that Bungie wants to make and an equity stake in the company, but Bungie will once more be an independent developer, able to make games for whomever it chooses about whatever it chooses.

“All that has changed is that now Bungie Studios is once again, the property of the folks of Bungie Studios. Microsoft is and will continue to be, a brilliant, inventive and creatively collaborative publishing partner,”

said Bungie in a statement. Noting also that consumers and gamers will not notice much,if any, difference for a while yet. What this does is give Bungie the creative freedom to work on their own pet projects, and after Halo 3 racked up $300 million in sale in its first week, they’ve got the money to spend on their flights of fancy. Microsoft Games Studios’ Shane Kim has said:

“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. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through ‘Halo’-related titles and new IP created by Bungie.”

What are the motives bhind this move though, its all being portrayed as very friendly and amicable but, as Crecente on Kotaku points out, Bungies use of the leash analogy is quite telling. Did Bungie feel restrained by the demands that Microsoft put on them? Did they want to widen their audience beyond the Xbox and PC markets?

Bungie started out making games for the Mac, its Myth and Marathon games widely hailed as classics. Will this split from MS see them going back to their roots and making games for the Mac once more? If Bungie were to throw their considerable wieght behind Mac gaming it may bring about a renaissance in gaming on the fashion accessory of the computing world.
(From Kotaku.)

Tags: 360, Announcement, Bungie, business, Halo, Kotaku, Mac, Microsoft

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