H*$! F&$*@&% S!#*
11:26 AM, October 5, 2007
The departure of Bungie is just about the worst possible news that Microsoft could have received.
Forget about Microsoft retaining the rights to the Halo IP and Bungie continuing to make games for Microsoft.
Microsoft no longer has the power to order up Halo games at will from Bungie.
Bungie now has the freedom to say "no" when the Halo request comes over the transom.
What's more, how long will it take for a Bungie game to show up on a Nintendo or Sony platform with the words "From the creators of Halo" on the cover?
No matter how this gets spun -- and expect Microsoft to spin faster than a hula hoop on this announcement -- this is a terrible outcome for Microsoft.
The only way it could get worse is if Bungie gets bought by Sony or Nintendo.
After all, while Microsoft says it will be retaining an equity interest in Bungie, it's obviously no longer a controlling interest.
So there's nothing to stop Sony or Nintendo from stepping in and doing what Microsoft did when it bought Rare, which was until then a Nintendo-centric developer.
What a colossal, nearly-unmitigated disaster for Microsoft.
Comments
Victor, by any chance do you have stock in Microsoft :P
If Microsoft retains the rights to the IP can't they take that IP elsewhere? Not that I'd want to see it, but if Bungie is too busy to milk the Halo cash cow, couldn't Microsoft give someone like 2k Boston a shot at it?
If so, I'd imagine that franchise is worth more than Bungie itself.
Posted by: Chris | October 5, 2007 4:34 PM
Nah, no stock, I just find it really annoying when a company does something this transparently dumb.
Yes, Microsoft could potentially shop the Halo IP to another developer, and in fact, I think that's likely to happen. This whole split seems to be centered around Bungie's desire to work on something else, and I think Microsoft would like to release Halo games basically once a year.
Those are what are known as irreconcilable differences.
So right now the guys at Ensemble Studios in Dallas are making Halo Wars, and Peter Jackson is working on his unnamed Halo project (which I suspect is a quiet attempt to resurrect the Halo movie, but could just be Halo 4).
After that, I suspect Bioware (makers of Mass Effect) or 2K Boston/2K Australia (makers of BioShock) or Microsoft-owned studio Rare gets tasked to make the next big Halo game.
Frankly, I think Bungie is done making AAA Halo games. We'll probably see some downloadable Halo content for Xbox Live, maybe some Halo titles for PSP or DS handhelds (if Microsoft gives its blessing), but if Bungie really wants to work on different projects, then that necessarily means putting Halo aside.
Kudos to Bungie for getting what it wanted, but I just don't understand why Microsoft rolled over so easily. This separation provides absolutely zero benefit to Microsoft.
Posted by: Victor Godinez | October 5, 2007 4:51 PM