It’s almost like living in the Twilight Zone when the developer behind the biggest titles in Microsoft’s gaming history is no longer an exclusive developer. In fact, it’s downright unimaginable that Bungie themselves even feel as though they’re in a better position with Sony involved than they were with just Microsoft. Of course, some individuals will choose to point to the fact that with Sony, Bungie is developing for two consoles instead of one, but let’s not kid ourselves — Microsoft has deep pockets.
Anyone who has watched Microsoft as a company over the years can agree that if the software giant wanted to dig deep and keep Bungie an exclusive developer for the Xbox 360, they probably could have. Furthermore, they could have turned Bungie into a first-party developer, securing one of the best in the business, and therefore, making their grass just a little bit greener, but instead they didn’t.
It’s no secret that Microsoft needs first-party support. Every year we look around and watch third-party exclusives dieing. The most recent of which was yet another 360-exclusive franchise entitled, Mass Effect developed by BioWare. The company is drowning without much to look forward to internally and I believe most gamers are smart enough to take notice of this as well.
A Bungie employee recently spoke to CVG about this revelation and openly admitted that Bungie is definitely in a better position within the industry developing for Sony than if they weren’t.
“I think Bungie is better poised now to do great things than we ever have been in the history of our studio, just in terms of our infrastructure, our new office, our team are at over 180 employees now, our Activision partnership, the creative control that we have, our freedom, our funding…
“There’s not anything holding us back now,” he said. “It’s up to us to sink or swim and execute our own destiny, really try and bring our next big universe to life.”
Furthermore, Brian Jarrard (man who stated the above), also revealed awhile ago that Bungie may just lead on the PlayStation 3 in the future as well — but nothing is set in stone.
“It’s a little bit too early for us to say which console we’ll lead on. We’re going to exactly figure out what’s the right way to lead into our new universe and what’s the right way to extend it. It’s too early for me to say which console is going to be the first out of the gate.”
Even as far back as February, Bungie had an internal team working on its next project after Reach…you know, the one that will be cross-platform. It goes without saying that this internal team is definitely working with the tech inside the PlayStation 3 and looking at ways to optimize it.
It’s going to be interesting to see what the developer comes up with, but overall, I’m not too concerned with it flopping. Given the history of the team, it should be evident that they’re capable of creating a long-standing franchise in the industry and that’s what we should be looking towards.
Wow, talk about fanboy nonsense, not to mention misinformation. Bungie was a Microsoft first party developer, lock stock and barrel. Bungie wanted to be independant again and made a deal with Microsoft to basically buy their freedom. Bungie is not the majority holder in Bungie Games, but Microsoft still own share in Bungie.
Also not once in any of that interview did they mention Sony or the PS3. Reaching much? They also didn’t state they “might” lead on the PS3 with their next title. Bungie have only stated that are going to develop for multiple systems and yes, that includes the PS3 AND Xbox 360 and perhaps even the PC.
lol
Misinformation? From the company’s creation to 1999, the developer was third-party. During the Microsoft acquisition, the developer became a first-party studio…In 2007, Bungie left Microsoft and became once again, a third-party studio… Today, which is 2010, by the way, Bungie has been a third-party studio for the past 3 years… Microsoft had 2 years until the Activision partnership was announced to approach Bungie and just offer them more money than imaginable to retain them back as a first-party developer… They didn’t.
No misinformation there, buddy.
Moving on. If Bungie now feels they’re in a stronger position than before, that’s indirectly associated with the Sony platform. Bungie has ALWAYS been able to develop for PC/360. The only new console Bungie has interest in is what? PlayStation. So, any comment in regards to the current state of the team being better than ever is due to what the company has ADDED to its limitations…which includes Sony/PlayStation.
Secondly…If Bungie is unsure of which console they’ll lead on for their next project, that means that PlayStation is a 33% likelihood of being the lead platform. I’d say that qualifies more-so than anything for a “may/might” statement…
Thanks
M$ has made some stupid mistakes this gen, but letting go of Bungie was one of their biggest.
Wow Microsoft is really sinking now. They must have some intelligent people in their company. How could they make all of these mistakes? Surely they have a plan in mind, maybe a new xbox?
Bungie will need to come up with something spectacular to get any interest from me.
I had Halo 1 & 2 – they were both, in my personal opinion, very average games.
That said, they’re on the Activision label now, so there’s very little chance of me buying any of their games anyway.
i myself am cinda consirned for bungie, because the only good games they made were halo games, far back they made some rpg`s that werent so good, one of witch was so badd that their side studio had to close
so i hope tey do it right this time, cuz theres way to many badd games out there, and we dont need a nother one
(i was NOT talking about halo bdw)