Bungie's Frank O'Connor Explains The Studio's Departure from MS

Bungie Studios has reclaimed its independence, but what does it all mean? In this interview, Content Manager Frank O'Connor tells GameDaily BIZ that negotiations began about a year ago and that the deal is "an evolution of Bungie's independent spirit." More within...

[power of Green]

Seems like too many have busted their nut way too soon with the first announcment. I even seen *the Captian* talking crazzy radical sh*t in the 40gig PS3 thread, what was that Halo Sigma?.

[jcgamer]

crazy talk, I agree with you...and he even had some agrees...lol...

[mighty_douche]

no one expects a halo game to ever come to the ps3, and fanckly i doubt many ps3 owners would want it, not because of the quality of the game or graphics or any of that BS but purely because i feel the xbox is its home and thats where it should stay, like MGS on the playstation although thats not to say id be unhappy to see it come to the xbox as long as the doesnt compromise anything. you people seem to love exclusive games purely because they sell consoles, now realisticly this effects you, the gamer how? and dont use developer support, once both systems are above 10mil no developer in their right mind will turn their back on it if they can help it.

me personally im very happy that bungie have left M$ just because now ALL OF US get to enjoy these brilliant developers work? why is that a bad thing? i also dont like to see a developer working under a parent company, sure the money the company throws in wether it M£/SONY/NINTENDO helps to created a better game, normally, but these companies will always make demands on that developer, remember its their money after all. let the creative juices flow i say.

[gta_cb]

i do agree, although you cant really say like MGS should stay on the PS3 as if you remember MGS was on the xbox other then that i do agree that to me the Xbox/360 feels like Halo's home

[razer]

than to dance on the corpses of MS fanboys, but yes it was a bit premature.

Still, I don't care how Bungie/MS happily spin this, the industry is going to look at it as a negative and it will be something that I believe will influence the decisions of future MS partners. It seems if you sign with MS you are giving up your creative freedom.

[unlimited]

were u here when 360 fanboys was constantly putting article that the ps3 is dead and no games and etc..both side is horrible but hey we learn to live with it lol...i dont want microsoft to go away because competitoin is good.

[EZCheez]

No matter how peaceful the separation really was, it's really hard to look at it in a positive manner, ESPECIALLY after the release of Halo 3. The only logical reason most people could see in this separation after Halo 3 is that they just don't want to do it anymore.

I'm sure there will be more Halo's though. You can't just stop making a game that makes that much money. Whether Bungie will make the next one is a completely different story though.

[Gina-get-u]

Man, this isn't bad news. I don't see the downside. MS just doesn't like owning devs anymore. It hasn't worked out too well for them. MS and Bungie are still tight. Bungie will give MS first dibs on the good stuff. What are you worried about?

[Pain70]

they did just make $300,000,000 in a week from "1" video game being overbearing. if Bungie is upset because they have to follow the rules of the MotherShip, maybe they should check out what has happened to other developers who have lost their focus on success for the sake of "keeping it real." its all about cash, not how you feel. sorry to be so American, but money makes the world go round! ask Sony. they lost focus on the gamer and went to the entertainment center; hence, lower than expected sales. give consumers what THEY want, not what YOU want to give them. Happy Gaming to ALL!!! out....

[power of Green]

I'm trying very hard to see where you're comming from.

I don't think people/devs care as long as they can make money and buy games.

I don't think its PR spin theres an actual respect and pantner ship there. We don't know if MSFT's restructuring/cleaning house etc. Haters and fanboys will look at this as an negative, if anything this will give new devs hope of being the new Bungie.

I'm sure Bungie wants to be its own enity and not labled as MSFT's little B*tch and MSFT not wanting the image of depending on Bungie to pull the 360's weight this is something both parties have been talking about for ages.

MSFT never bought Bizzar Creations so they didn't lose anything there.

Could you imagine the pressures Bungie was under think about that, if they stayed it would have stripped their creativity from stress.

[THC CELL]

what to bet we see a halo on ps3

[dachiefsman]

well evidently you didn't read the article....MS owns Halo....pretty safe bet the Halo series will never appear on another system besides Xbox

[EZCheez]

And would you really want it to? That's why I own a PS3. Because I'm not crazy about Halo. Let Microsoft keep it.

[Salvadore]

MS owns right to the Halo IP's.

[fjtorres]

Or "Bungie said its primary focus will remain developing for Microsoft's platform."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id...

This is Bungie going from First party developer (part of MS and operating by MS rules) to second-party developer (independent but captive, operating by their own rules but solely for 360).

No amount of wishing for Halo for PS3 will make it happen, kids.
Especially since it makes no financial or creative sense for either Bungie (who are clearly sick-n-tired of working halo for ten years) or MS.
Want Halo? Buy a 360.
Don't want it?
Then move along...nobody's going to force you.

[Adamalicious]

Where did you read that they are making games exclusively for the 360?

[fjtorres]

http://www.n4g.com/industry...

BIZ: Is it possible that the Halo universe or Bungie's future games could appear on other consoles now?

FO: Right now we're concentrating on the Xbox 360. Which we adore.

I understand reality is hard to accept, but...

[sheng long]

who would want to play HALO on a PS console anyway? the franchise belongs on XBOX consoles. It just wouldn't feel right.

[dachiefsman]

hahaha....kind of like DMC4 right?

[Mr PS3]

"we had to get away from microsoft because devolping for the xbox is a pain in the ass and no fun anymore!! we are gonna work with a much better product the PS3 but dont worry xbox fans we will be making Halo 4 but dont expect it to be any better looking than halo 3 because of the limitations of the xbox"

[kooplar]

Youre a moron.

[mighty_douche]

but at least an original funny one. i wonder if you cought anyone out...

[smack]

Whether Bungie stayed or not, it is unlikely they could produce another massive game like Halo with a new IP. It appears that the separation was mutual, and that Bungie did not particularly enjoy the corporate culture.

Right now the Sony fans should be concerned whether the PS3 is around long enough to benefit from a Bungie game in the future.

[zonetrooper5]

Xbox my ass get the award for the most retarded comment in the thread. He said he was sorry for not being able to collect the award but thanked Sony and he also wanted to thank his other trolling fans for the award. Well we have had a great show guys, so we should see you tomorrow for another N4G award show.

[Wolfmoonstrike]

Is just me or Bungie is to Microsoft as Insomniac is to Sony? In other words Bungie is "independent" but will still only make 360 games. I mean this is article kind of just sounds that way. could be just me.

[Maldread]

Yeah i was thinking the same thing.

They did seem a bit open for developing for other platforms though, so maybe we`ll see some sort of DS game or something (not Halo). It will be interesting to see what comes out of it.

If it`s indeed the same as the Sony-Imsomniac relation, we won`t see any games on other platform.

[ChronicOsmosis]

poor sony
BIZ: Is it possible that the Halo universe or Bungie's future games could appear on other consoles now?
FO: Right now we're concentrating on the Xbox 360. Which we adore.
BIZ: What are the details of this long-term relationship with MS? Do they get first crack at publishing any new games before you shop around to other publishers? And how many years is "long-term?"
FO: We're not discussing the details of the relationship, suffice to say that it's healthy and ongoing. In reality, very little will change outwardly.
Summed up for you dumb fan boys don't expect to see nothing from bungie on your PS3 for a long long time.

[Mu5afir]

BIZ: Is it possible that the Halo universe or Bungie's future games could appear on other consoles now? FO: Right now we're concentrating on the Xbox 360. Which we adore.

The keyword here is RIGHT NOW, reading comprehension people. Bungie is no longer an EXCLUSIVE 1st party developer. And seeing future games on the Wii, or Ps3 shouldn't be surprising. After all Rare a 1st party (MGS) developer is making games for Nintendo. And Bungie isn't even 1st party anymore.

[Odion]

its people like you that make me weep

MS is putting Rare games on the DS, its their choice, they want to make the extra money while weakening Sony.

There is as good a chance of seeing bungie games on the PS3 as there is of seeing Insomiacs games.

[goodganja]

Sega fanboys didnt expect Sonic to be on a Nintendo nor Sony platform neither. But look what happened.

Halo is coming to PS3...Believe that

Jump out & PLAY B3YOND

[nambo]

Sonic only went to other platforms after Sega became a software only company. The Saturn was dead so they needed platforms to develop for.

[Sayai jin]

To the ne above. Your Nintendo / Sega anology is not very good. Sega fell as a company (hardware), they became strictly a hardware maker. The company was flat broke. MS has the deepest pockets and they do not need to sell their software to make money. MS owns all rights for any thing that has been or will be with Halo. Even if MS allowed any Halo game to come to a Sony or Nintendo console, then that would mean that Sony/Nintendo would be giving more money to MS. So this would be bad for both. I want the PS3 to do well also, cause I own a PS3, but I am not going to put on fanboy glasses and dream.

This deal was in the works for about a year, so no big news for MS ot Bungie. We know that MS owns Halo, right? Or do you need to go to the S website for proof. Even games other than the Halo IP MS will have first refusal rights.

You know what will be scary for some. With this deal Bungie will still build exclusives for MS, Bungie is still in their back pocket. Hold on the thing that every one should know is that MS will go out sign a really big name Dev, I wonder who?

Man, I tell you it is the best time to be a gamer. Thats why I own all 3 systems.

[miked808]

I know Microsoft owns HALO but I must say I'm curious how it would play on PS3.

[sak500]

Imagine Halo2 @ 20fps washed out colors and low rez textures.

[mighty_douche]

yeah your totally right, it would look better on the ps3!!

sorry but one fanboy comment deserves another.

[Says you]

And nothing else besides the other games that Bungie had in mind to make because I think they just used them for that one game and well either Microsoft or Bungie decided thats all they wanted from them and plus I think Bungie was using them to for their money to as well and thought they had enough of it and decided to go by themselves heck they were probably tired of making the same game they know they'r good at and said to themselves if this is all the only game we know how to make then we should be by ourselves because people would only know them as the company that only makes that one game and plus the people already has forgotten the games that they made from the past and only know this game.

[sak500]

Why is sony's phil harrison in the picture? ;)

[goodganja]

Phil Harrison is there for you to spit your coffee out in disgust. We know how you Microdevils are when it comes to seeing the truth in your face which is Sony.

[mighty_douche]

i think sak500 was cracking a joke, its umm not Phil in the pictue...

umm might wanna edit that one away before you make a bigger t1t of yourself lol, also maybe you could find out if theres a chance they could involve 'sarcasm' somewhere in the american educational system? just a suggestion.

[goodganja]

Thanks for the suggestion Mighty Douche

But xbots need to be forewarned, of the mighty Tornado known as Sony.

[mighty_douche]

your one crazy mother£ucker dude, never change lol!

[Testo]

That 'Xbox My Ass' is an Xbot undisguise.

[psycho360]

Not as much as i'd bet that you didn't go to proper english school.

[IBLEEDBLU]

bungie wanted to wear shorts in the office and MS said no - so they split from MS

[BIadestarX]

Well... time for a cold shower Sony fanboys... none of the microsoft published IP created by bungie like Halo will ever see the light in the PS3... NEXT!

Also, bungie may very well be a 2nd party developer for Microsoft its game may only be developed for the xbox 360.

Also, obviously the relationship between Microsoft and bungie will always be closer than Sony and bungie... so if a Bungie game ever see the light on the PS3 it will most likely be on the Xbox 360.

I think this so call independence is a great thing for xbox 360 gamers... because they will still get all the IPs like halo 4 they were expecting plus more IPs...
The problem that bungie had is that it was told by microsoft what to make. Obviously bigger companies see the big picture and will want to publish games that they know will sell... i.e. Halo 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.... and it will make money... but a company like bungie have the potential to be even a publisher and not just studio under a publisher... they can become like EA, Square, or Konami... they are now able to work in as many project as they want and not have to wait for aproval from microsoft... obviously they will continue to milk those titles like Halo that they know will make money... it would be stupid to drop halo to venture on unproven risky titles... but now they can do both.
As a xbox 360 owners.. this is all good... the alternative would be... that everyone at bungie quits.. I think it show good faith.. that microsoft is willing to let Bungie be independent and become an partner... than to have Bungie go on a revolution and force independance... and the relationshop goes down in flame...
Go on.. Sony fanboys spin that @#$@#$. spin that @#$@#$.

[SofaKingReetodded]

STFU you tool, al you aholes kept on and on for days about how MS OWNS Bungie and calling the story BS.

seems the only OWNING going on around here is of xbots.

[darthv72]

Bladestar you make some good points. Had bungie been left with no choice but to have the creative members quite, the spaces would be filled with other people in "Bungie..name only" Kind of like Atari now vs the early days of the company. It is now a name only company with no real clout anymore.

MS would have kept having them slave away on what THEY wanted instead of letting them be creative. Rare is another good example of 'somewhat' creative freedom. They made several great titles for Nintendo as a 2nd party developer. MS buys their creative talent and lets them make games their (rare) way. They can also release games for nintendo (non competing) platforms because of a long relationship with nintendo.

If anything MS has more to gain by "licensing" out the talents of their 2nd party companies. Bungie has been promoted to the same freedom that Rare has. Someone made a comparison of insomniac and sony. Sony doesnt own insomniac yet they do get first crack at publishing their games which may just as well mean the same thing. Sony doesn't tell insomniac what kind of game it wants them to make. Insomniac approaches sony with the idea of a game and sony says yes or no depending on how they envision the game being accepted by the gaming public.

MS has actually shown some respect for the gaming public with this situation. By allowing a developer to be creative instead of under the ball and chain of a corporation (EA anyone??) will only mean fresh new ideas will happen.

[IRONMAN_X57]

.............................. .OKAY OKAY I JUST HAD TO SAY THAT, LOL xD

SONY wouldnt even care if it was on or off on ps3, ps3 will still dominate and is still the king with more IP's than any other company