Rumor time: Bungie leaving MS?

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 2nd 2007 at 9:50AM }

You may have heard a certain rumor floating around the intertubes in the last few hours. It started yesterday when a website by the name of 8Bit Joystick reported that Bungie and Microsoft are parting ways. Yes, you read that correctly. We're going to have to side with our Joystiq mothership on this one: it just ain't that likely. Sure, it's possible that certain Bungie employees may be heading off to seek their fortunes elsewhere (as many have already), but the Bungie name -- at the very least -- is sticking with Microsoft. They own it after all, so it's not going anywhere. Bungie deflected Joystiq's request for comment with their PR ninja skills, but we just find it hard to believe that Bungie is going anywhere but up. Besides, there are still several projects in the works that Bungie has a hand in, including Halo Wars, the Peter Jackson project, new Halo 3 downloadable content, and (probably) Halo 3 for PC. And, let's not forget, Bungie is the single best thing that Microsoft's gaming division has going right now. If Microsoft finally makes a profit on games this quarter, it will be because of Bungie and Halo 3.

Still, an update to the 8Bbit Joystick blog notes that locks are being changed at Bungie Studios. Is it possible? Sure, anything's possible, but it's just too hard to swallow at this point. One way or another, we'll know the truth soon enough.

[Via Joystiq]

Tags: bungie, bungie-studios, bungiestudios

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

xenocidic @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:00AM

Bungie is being torn down to reinstate FASA Studio and release maps, weapons, the ork race, and 250 more 'cheevo points.

oh and then I woke up

Will fn b @ Oct 2nd 2007 12:54PM

There is no way MS would let bungie go, if they for some insane reason tried to leave MS, MS would just shell out butt-loads of $$$$ to convince them to stay.

AfroCelt @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:12AM

no way Bungie is leavng...maybe some/all the talent, but not Bungie itself.

Scott @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:24AM

Changing keypads is not a sign that someone is leaving. When someone leaves, you take away their keycards or change the keycode.

TORO @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:22AM

8Bbit Joystick should do a X3F giveaway if they want more readers!

Adam @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:36AM

I love me teh HaloS! I don't care either way if they leave. I'm sure they will still put out quality games even if they do. However, I just put in about a 9 hour marathon session of co-op and multiplayer yesterday so I'm def. taking a break from the game today. haha

xenocidic @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:37AM

I wonder how much this guy has made the last few days from his Google Ads.

Tony @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:38AM

I don't even understand the correlation between the locks and people leaving to begin with.

I mean, if that were true, every one would technically be fired in order for that to work out. We wouldn't have heard about that by now? That kind of just seems, you know, like changing the locks. Most people who have a house wind up doing it at some point and it doesn't mean they're kicking their kids out.

Still, I'd not be surprised if a lot of people were moving on. It seems to happen after any big release at a company.

Measure @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:42AM

On the one hand, it wouldn't be a big shock to see Bungie incorporate as it's own company. This kind of thing happens all the time in business when a division not attached to the core of a company becomes highly successful.

On the other hand, Microsoft has traditionally kept multiple highly successful business units wrapped up in Redmond.

My final thought is that MS learned with the purchase of Rare that the intellectual property is far more valuable than the developers can be. Humans can quit, move on to other companies, where IP can't.

So it wouldn't surprise me too much if Bungie becomes a 2nd party devoloper for MS, still primarily working on Halo-themed games.

Shidarin @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:49AM

Changing keypads isn't all that odd after you finish a big project- imaging how many extra people Bungie brought on to finish the fight- people that were brought on temp... My guess is a lot of them.

No matter how many RFID tags you take away etc, if you have that number of people that MIGHT have access to your super secret facility, you change the locks.

(from my Joystiq comment)
It doesn't have to be a matter of Microsoft "letting" Bungie go. Any number of perfectly legal things could happen that Microsoft would feel crummy about, but have little recourse. None of us (including Joystiq) know what the terms were back when Microsoft bought Bungie- but we do know that Bungie was an employee owned company and they all had to agree with the deal- a deal which might include any number of provisions for "7 years down the line"

-Shidarin
http://www.grenadehop.com/

Eric @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:54AM

Why exactly would they change the locks. I'm sure they use ID card reader for access to the building. Like all other MS buildings that I have seen. You could just disable everyone's ID cards. I say bogus on this one

Shadowmoses @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:52AM

I read the entry..sounds like he's reassuring himself more than trying to convince everyone else that Bungie is leaving Microsoft. Keeps
repeating "my source this, my source that" and "trust me, I know what I'm saying, etc." Personally I don't believe Bungie is leaving Microsoft anyway. Bungie is to Microsoft what Zipper is to Sony.

schiavonir @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:00AM

Did anyone read the recent article about Bungie and Halo3 in WIRED (it was on the cover.) Bungie uses so many of MS's resources to test and develop their games that it seems to me it would be very difficult for them to go their own way and still put out a game with as much quality and playability as Halo 3. Bungie mad extensive use of Microsoft Game Studios' testing labs throughout the development of Halo. They marched people through on a weekly basis to test out every build, looking for imbalances, trouble spots, bugs, people's reactions, etc. It's pretty incredible, especially given the "get it out the door and we'll patch it later" mentality of other game developers.

Measure @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:07AM

@schiavonir,

Bungie and MS could still work together like that if Bungie keeps it's current headquarters location and becomes a 2nd party developer for MS.

@everyone,
When was the last time the MS actually purchased a game developer?

derek @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:15AM

This is stupid. MS owns Bungie. This is like saying MTV or Comedy Central is leaving Viacom. Bungie is part of the company therefore it cannot "leave." You may have employees of Bungie leave to start their own company or projects but Bungie itself is not going anywhere unless MS decides to spin Bungie off as it's own separate entity. Also, having many people leave at the end of a monumental and long-term project is typical in this industry.

This is obviously a discussion created and maintained by a bunch of uninformed Internet idiots.

xenocidic @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:20AM

"This is obviously a discussion created and maintained by a bunch of uninformed Internet idiots."

Pretty much sums it up.

1. Random Blogger posts dubious story from unnamed source.
2. People see said blog and get their panties all ruffled up
3. Fearmongers link to site because Halo 3 news is "teh hawt"
4. ????
5. Profit !!!

DjDATZ @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:28AM

I HIGHLY DOUBT this is true. Especially with what was mentioned in the X3F post...What about the Peter Jackson project? What about directing the Halo Wars project? What about the TONS of DLC Bungie has planned for Halo 3 and the 360?

The truth will come soon enough.

DjDATZ @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:28AM

DjDATZ @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:31AM

I'm with Xeno on this one...I think this is complete bullshit and was just created to get everyone's panties in a bunch. Oh...and then there's the whole profit motivation thing...

Digitalspirit @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:36AM

Like derek says above. Bungie is OWNED by Microsoft, only the employees can leave. Case closed.

M. Dizzy @ Oct 2nd 2007 12:58PM

Yes they're changing the locks because they just finished Halo 3 crunch. That means the hired guns are going bye bye for now and the studio is shrinking back to its core team until the next project requires more people.

But if you watched the Crunch Time video on the bonus disk, you'd know that all of Microsoft's buildings are secured with a card reader. And card access is controlled centrally. They don't give out physical keys.

---Bogus

Bungie is solid gold. Microsoft will not be letting them go or closing the studio anytime soon...period. As for the division getting popular and spinning off on its own, Bungie was already popular before Microsoft bought them. I was tracking Halo back when it was announced as a PC game, before Microsoft bought Bungie and made it an Xbox title (smartest move in the history of gaming).

Anyway, I don't know what this guy is smoking, but if he wouldn't mind passing it, I'd appreciate it.