Why didn't Microsoft buy Bungie? (2024)

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Why didn't Microsoft buy Bungie? ›

Bungie Split from Microsoft due to internal conflict within the company. They wanted to move on from halo, and felt that Microsoft would leave it in good hands. They also felt that they improved from a small studio, and now had the resources to go and make it on their own without the support of anot...

On its face this may seem to contradict a denial by Bungie CEO Pete Parsons about an earlier report that Microsoft had been in multiple talks with Bungie about a purchase but the price was too high (Sony bought Bungie for $3.6 billion).

Despite the move, financial analyst Roger Ehrenberg declared the Bungie-Microsoft marriage "doomed to fail" due to these fundamental differences. Bungie also pointed out that it was tired of new intellectual property being cast aside to work on the Halo franchise.

If you look at it from Jim Ryan's perspective it made perfect sense. He was looking to push PlayStation toward GAAS since theoretically they make more money per title than what PlayStation was famous for, and Bungie made one of the most successful GAAS titles of all time.

To simplify, Bungie wanted to be an independent studio. The agreement of them getting their freedoms was that they would make five Halo games (1-3, ODST, Reach) and then give the rights to the Halo IP to Microsoft. Microsoft then founded 343 to oversee everything Halo and to make new games.

Also during the call, Johnson said Activision Blizzard wanted to break up with Bungie because the Destiny franchise was failing to meet its commercial projections. "Destiny is highly critically acclaimed, high quality content, but it was not meeting our financial expectations," he said.

Also, will Bungie ever come back and make another halo video game? Bungie Split from Microsoft due to internal conflict within the company. They wanted to move on from halo, and felt that Microsoft would leave it in good hands.

Bungie Split from Microsoft due to internal conflict within the company. They wanted to move on from halo, and felt that Microsoft would leave it in good hands.

The reason for Bungie leaving the Halo series is still discussed among fans. A Quora user suggests that Bungie "didn't want to be a one-trick pony" with Halo. It'd be easy for them to get stuck in a rut, considering they worked on nothing but Halo games under Microsoft.

Microsoft acquired Bungie in 2000, and its signature title, Halo, helped turn Microsoft's Xbox console into a major game platform. But the developer split from Microsoft in 2007 and stopped making Halo three years later. Since 2011, Halo has been developed by 343 Industries, a company owned by Microsoft.

Can Bungie split from Sony? ›

However, sources tell IGN that Bungie leaders said shortly after the recent round of layoffs, which saw around 100 people let go, that if the studio does not reach certain financial goals, Sony can dissolve the split board and take full control.

One month after a major round of layoffs impacted roughly 100 Bungie employees of 1,200, those remaining at the Destiny developer say the cuts, as well as other cost-cutting measures, came alongside an apparent scramble by studio leadership to avoid a total Sony takeover.

Fortunately for players on Xbox and PC, Bungie has confirmed that Destiny 2 and all of its content will remain multiplatform, at least for the foreseeable future.

After Bungie became an independent company again in 2007, they made two more Halo games for Microsoft and then handed over the series for 343 Industries to maintain. Mainline games featuring the Master Chief and Cortana are Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, and Halo Infinite.

Halo is a military science fiction media franchise, originally developed and created by Bungie and currently managed and developed by 343 Industries, part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios. The series launched in 2001 with the first-person shooter video game Halo: Combat Evolved and its tie-in novel, The Fall of Reach.

After releasing Halo 3 in 2007, Bungie split into teams to develop two different games—what would become Halo 3: ODST and Reach. The developers decided to create a prequel to the original Halo game trilogy, freeing themselves from the obligation of addressing old story threads.

Microsoft had identified key areas for acquisitions in PC, mobile, and console across different markets, and Sega, Bungie, Zynga, and IO Interactive were part of a number of companies Microsoft was seriously looking at acquiring.

Despite Bungie being on Microsoft's watchlist, it was actually PlayStation parent company Sony Interactive Entertainment that went on to acquire the Destiny maker for $3.6 billion last year. Since 2021, when Microsoft made this list, the company has not acquired any listed companies.

Microsoft bought Bungie in 2000 and now Sony has acquired the studio--for a lot more money.

Halo is a military science fiction media franchise, originally developed and created by Bungie and currently managed and developed by 343 Industries, part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios.