Oh, great…it’s another one of those “my inside source at X company told me” situations, but in this case there may be more truth to the story then fiction.
Recently the Seattle Post-Intelligencer posted an article that claims, from an inside source at Bungie, that the folks that brought you Halo are parting ways with their fabled publisher, Microsoft. The email is as follows:
So heres my big secret. You should google Bungie + Microsoft + separation this week.
You know that big ol BILLION dollar franchise Bungie has created for Microsoft, to show their appreciate Microsoft is letting Bungie leave. Of course Microsoft gets to keep all rights to the Halo franchise, but as today Bungie no longer part of Microsoft. Ask anyone who works there to search the global address book, they’re no longer in there. Microsoft was supposed to release the press release today but if they wait till the 10/6 the impact wont effect the quarterly results. However today is the actual official date and the day the NDAs expire, however you still didn’t hear this from me.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; the way they market their games, the way they interact with their fans (basically the fact that they do appreciate their fans), and how stingie they are with the profits (comparable to the rest of the industry). So as of today they are their own independent entity. They’ll probably make Halo 4 for Microsoft, however hey are also free to create new intellectual properties for whatever system they want. (Even though they prefer the xbox platform)
While at first many had chalked this one up on the extremely unlikely section of the rumor mill, recent news from Team Xbox seems to state other wise. From their latest news post:
By now, you must have heard the rumor of Bungie leaving Microsoft that started at 8Bit Joystick.com. Well, we can't provide further info now (we'd put our sources in trouble) but we're going to tell you that it is more complex than simply Bungie leaving Microsoft or Microsoft letting Bungie go.
There will be an official announcement this week, definitely before October 12th...
What could this mean for the Studio? I'm sure Microsoft would retain the rights to the Halo franchise and this might be just the thing that Bungie needs to get out from the Halo shadow and try something new. But the real question on everyones mind is why? Time will tell
