Game Informer adds merit to 'Bungie leaves Microsoft' rumor

by Ross Miller { Oct 2nd 2007 at 8:15PM }

Though we're still standing by our initial assertion for now, Game Informer has now come forward to say that they, too, have contacted an anonymous source who claims Bungie staffers are "tired of making Halo" and that shareholders have managed to buy back the Bungie name from Microsoft for an unspecified but significant amount of money.

Part of that deal reportedly has Microsoft retaining rights to the Halo franchise and also having the first shot at publishing future Bungie titles. We could very easily see every (or almost every) employee leaving the studio to start a new company (see: Wideload Studios, Certain Affinity, Giant Bite, Double Aught, etc.), but how much is the Bungie name worth? To Microsoft, probably a lot, but to the employees, would the incredible amount of money required to pay Big Daddy Gates really be worth it? Wouldn't they be better off using that money to build a nice developer environment?

We're still receiving the stock response from Microsoft: "There's been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3." Here's how some other sites have weighed in on the rumor:

X3F
Gamespot
IGN
1UP (whose former news editor Luke Smith now works for the developer)
Kotaku

Tags: bungie, halo, halo-3, halo3, microsoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

OMGOMG @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:19PM

Oh no.

OMGOMG @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:26PM

Ross, on a scale of 1-10, how shocked would you be if the news was true?

Ross Miller @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:55PM

If every single developer left Bungie to form their own studio: not too shocked. After all, the fellas probably don't want to make Halo forever. Then again, if big brass left, I'd imagine some small-time developers being tempted to stay on as lead developers. That's a helluva nice promotion to walk away from ...

Then again, who's to say they'd be a Halo farm? The franchise has already been given to other devs before (Ensemble, for example), and MS isn't against new IPs.

However, to address the full rumor of Bungie leaving, with its name. Let's think hypothetically that there was even an amount of money in the world that one convince MS to give up the name. Why on fucking earth would ppl spend that much money, when they could call themselves "Bungey" and set up (with that much cash) their own freaking dev studio island resort.

That makes no sense, and if that's the case, you can bet the industry to be working full steam to discover how much money that actually is, even if it involves inventing a new number system. After that, probably quite a few articles analyzing the silliness of spending that much on a name.

mrfong @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:22PM

So....does this affect the possibility of Halo DS in a good or bad way?

Akamaru @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:26PM

Not-Halo 4 PS3 Exclusive confirmed!!!!!

Snukadaman @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:52PM

do you read...microsoft has first dibs on publishing the game..and hwat happens when a company publishes a game...exclusivity. you honestly think anything goes too ps3 from bungie after they made microsoft a heap of money...

Junior4565 @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:17PM

Well even though I have a PS3 and would be overjoyed by this I realy think it wouldn't work and then Microsoft secured the franchise, but I am happy that Bungie will focus on other games besides Halo and you can only tell a story for so long till you reach the end, and I personally haven't played Halo yet so I can't really say much but then againthis is a rumor

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring) @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:29PM

always an anonymous source...this isn't watergate fellas. bill gates isn't gonna send the fbi after you (maybe)

but if they bought back a controlling share of their stock then they certainly could control their future. that hadn't been noted in yesterday's post about this

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:33PM

No, but microsoft or bungie could fire the employee...

horngreen @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:33PM

Starting to sound legit. MS still owns the rights to Halo so none of that for PS3. I could see this turning Bungie into RARE. Just a shell of it's former self cranking out junk. I even read they wanted to pursue new IPs and actually mentioned that crap game they stuck on XBLA, Marathon I think it is called. So how is remaking a 10 year old FPS "new"? I can see how it would get old working on the same game years on end. Unfortunately many will go on in an attempt to craete a new studio that makes "art" games and they will tank. Best of luck to them anyway.

FM @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:39PM

Don't forget Myth! Ahhh that game was nice..

Dash @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:49PM

That post lost all merit when you called Marathon crap.

Word Up, North Korea! @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:04PM

Myth and Marathon were both awesome IPs...you're obviously fucking clueless

cc123 @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:51PM

You turned on Bungie pretty damn fast. They haven't even left yet and their products are already crap.

You sound like a scorned lover. lol

JimyD @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:36PM

This rumor is starting to pick up some steam.

Ghostm @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:37PM

This is not going to end well for Micro$oft!
I don't think M$ can afford to lose Bungie. That's their bread and butter for their console. Hopefully they can pay Bungie off to silence and keep them under their commands.

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:44PM

They don't need bungie, they need Halo. As they as they can keep the Halo name, they'll have a different developer make subpar games that people will buy out of hype.

Word Up, North Korea! @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:37PM

Remember that Bungie was a mac-only, and then mac-first developer before being bought out by Microsoft...they probably didn't like it much but did it for the money

if true, this could amount to them buying their souls back from the devil

colin @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:16PM

south korea has something that north korea doesn't have ... seoul

FM @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:37PM

MSDF-assemble!

samfish (MSDF- Nurse Outfit!) @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:23AM

NURSE!
*twirls*

david @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:38PM

here is a question for you?

What developer makes Madden football for EA?

some of you don't know. I do because I'm in the industry.

its Tiburon, if EA handed the game over to another developer would most people notice. sure bungie is more synomous with Halo, but the main stream audience I don't think would really notice. that is just my opinion

of course all the game media would make a point out of it.

unosturgis @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:40PM

o0o0h you are in the industry?? can i get your autograph?!?!?!1111one

Ska Oreo @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:06PM

you got a point there.

SneezyPorcupine @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:41PM

Hey um...wats that red thing hanging off the Brute's cock?

JanJan @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:19PM

XXL condom

It shows that even Brutes have regular sized penises

JanJan @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:44PM

"We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3."

Those PR folks at Microsoft make the launch of Halo 3 sound like the second coming of Jesus.

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:49PM

Believe.

Ska Oreo @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:07PM

That's because it is fool.

Joe @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:50PM

I guess this would mean that Halo 4 is being made. Seeing as right after Halo 3 came out Bungie said that Halo4 was not being made so when they said they were not making it next they ment they are not making it but another of MS game studios was instead.

JimyD @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:55PM

David, that's what Microsoft is probably thinking. The Bungie team doesn't want to do Halo games forever so they try to work out an amicable split. Microsoft keeps the franchise and gets another developer to work on it (similar to Activision moving Guitar Hero to Neversoft) and Bungie becomes a happy developer since they can work on games they're interested in.

Spitkicker @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:55PM

Good luck Bungie!! You guys still rock. I for one am interested in any future IP's they may have dreamed up. I LOVE Halo...I do, but I can understand the great team behind the series wanting to do something else.

phattie @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:55PM

Maybe they will use the UnrealEngine3 or CryEngine for Halo4 so the graphics are on par with next gen FPSs and run in HD.

Ska Oreo @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:08PM

Just please die. Eat yourself to death. No one will miss you.

eclipse27 @ Oct 4th 2007 1:50PM

Phattie:

You are absoultely right. I have all the respect for Halo 3 but Ska Oreo is being a idiot. He agreed on the earler comment on Halo 3 being the second coming of Jesus. all i know is that when "Jesus" comes, I want to see it in at least 720p....my set-up is 1080p is would I want that personally

finnith @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:10PM

They're not announcing a split

They're announcing Pimps at Sea.

Zach Isso @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:25PM

M$ is annoyed because for the first time Bungie has not started on a succeeding entry in the Halo franchise prior to the release of a current title. M$ does not want anyone but Bungie doing Halo 4, thus Halo 4 is not yet in development. Bungie wants M$ to put other studios in charge of future Halo titles so they could work on other titles, M$ things that the creative direction of the Halo franchise is an exclusive product of Bungie, thus M$ does not want to do that. There is salivation 622 Broadway at the release of such a rumor.

teenagertc @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:32PM

This rumor is ridculous! Bungie (Frankie) have been waxing poetic about how much freedom they've had in creating Halo 3 and how they stand by the product of the game. REMEMBER! THIS GAME CAME OUT ONE WEEK AGO!!! No professional would even entertain the idea of a business breakup ONE WEEK into their premier product launch (ESPECIALLY WHEN IT MADE $170 Million in the US in ONE DAY!) Like I said, after proclaiming this to be their blood, sweat, and tears, why would they walk away from it! Also...what private shareholders??? Bungie is owned by Microsoft. How could there still be Bungie stock? I thought it was only Microsoft stock. And how could anyone individual or group at Bungie come up with enough money to pay Microsoft off! We are talking $200-$400 million.

To play devil's advocate though, one reason why Bungie may want to call it quits with the Halo series, is because Microsoft was probably pushing hard for a Halo 4 (especially seeing what Halo 3 is doing to its sales). Still, I have to wonder why Microsoft hasn't come out and squashed this rumor...this rumor could effect game sales and most definitely MSFT's stock price!

teenagertc @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:37PM

Also, what about Halo 3 on Xbox Live? Who would run that? What about new maps and patches, and updates, and the overall maintenance of the Halo servers. The Bungie people do not seem like the type to just pack up and go, especially because they know how loyal their fans are. But I don't like the statement given by Microsoft. They said that nothing has been announced. If this was totally untrue, I think they would have said as much. WOW. I hope this is not true!

Psaakyrn @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:56PM

Solution: contracted service. They could be a 3rd party publisher, but still remain contracted to provide service for Halo 3 for X number of years.

colin @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:20PM

is your avatar from are you afraid of the dark?

teenagertc @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:39PM

No, it's from "Scrubs". The guy's name is Christopher Duncan Turk and in this dream sequence he is playing a black irishman. It was hilarious...trust me (November 12th)!

eclipse27 @ Oct 4th 2007 1:42PM

Scrubs is the shit man i definitely remember that episode, lol, these clowns on here dont understand the realness

Lucky @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:43PM

I don't see why they whould realy WANT to leave since they bassicly get everything they'd ever need from Big M. (As far as I know). They only thing I can think of is Microsoft wanting them to make more halo, and I get the feeling they don't realy want to make more of teh halo.

Psaakyrn @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:59PM

They may want to make games for Macintosh too. And I don't think being a first party publisher for Microsoft would allow that.

BPM (FDF - Hypno-Toad) @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:49PM

Tired of Halo?

Marathon 4, confirmed.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:36PM

Actually I believe this is all BS and with any hopes the next game we see for the XB360 is Marathon :D

The reasons why I have hopes on a new Marathon game are:

Halo 3 Spoiler Alert* [Even when I believe everybody knows the ending by now]

Halo 3 Ended with Spartan 117 in a cryogenic-chamber in the freaking space and as we all know Marathon and Halo stories take place in the same universe, in fact the Halo arc takes place 200 Years before Marathon that means John could be frozen for 200,I mean why the hell not it worked for Fry.

Halo 3 is plagued by Marathon references, if you played Halo 3 you at least know the name Marathon and with Halo 3 hype and wikipedia now everyone knows about Marathon hell I didn’t knew it existed until Durandal hit the live arcade. Seriously until 2005 I was a PC fanboy in fact I knew about myth (I think I played it once) but I dind’t knew Bungie did it in fact until Halo no one knew who the hell was Bungie unless you were a long time Marathon Fan but everyone else was in blank.

I think Halo 3 Arc is finally done I mean the rings exploded and with MS in space waiting to awake continue with Marathon or a prelude to Marathon probably introducing John as the Main Hero wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Now I just want to add something, Can I be in the FDF Union?, I don’t have photoshop but I was thinking on being Reverend Preacherbot, Robot Santa or Calculon.