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Bungie Restablishes Some Independence

By Dawn Burnell on Friday, October 5, 2007 at 4:07 PM EST  

Bungie Independence

Hot on the heels of releasing the concluding entry of one of the highest selling series in gaming history, and following a week of rumors flying every which-way, Bungie and Microsoft have announced that the once independent studio will be gaining back some control of their company.

Microsoft will retain an equity interest in Bungie and the publishing agreement between the two regarding the Halo series will continue, and Microsoft will be the main publisher for any future works from Bungie. However, Bungie will own any future IP franchises/series they create, and Microsoft will be only a publisher. One of the main reasons thought behind the split was Bungie’s desire to develop new games outside of the Halo umbrella.

“Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in ‘Halo’ becoming an enduring mainstream hit,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “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.”

Jason Jones, Bungie founder and partner, commented “Working with Microsoft was great for us, it allowed us to grow as a team and make the ambitious, blockbuster games we all wanted to work on. And they will continue to be a great partner. But Bungie is like a shark. We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees.”

And we don’t need more manatees in the gaming world, that’s for sure.

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