Microsoft Sets Bungie Free

Whether it was really brought on by Bungie's desire to branch out in ways that Microsoft wasn't willing to fund or just a move to cut some the branches off the Microsoft tree the end result is the same.  In a press announcement today by Bungie and Microsoft the studios that brought Halo to life will be a privately held company in which Microsoft will keep a minority stake.

Microsoft will retain all rights to the "Halo" franchise, which cleared a cool 300 million in its first week of sales. Meaning revenue from Halo, and the upcoming movie series will likely be all Microsoft's to pocket.

This certainly seems like something that Bungie wanted, but was it smart?  Well an equity stake in a successful creative game company is better than owning a one game game studio that just launched the last game of a successful trilogy.  I think the timing is good too and ultimately will help both companies in the long run. 

So what was Bungie thinking...Halo 3 raked in over 300 million in the first week of sales from Xbox 360 customers. What would have been the sales been like if they had made this simultaneously available on the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista? Was that a marketing choice by Microsoft to spur on Xbox 360 sales?  Will the new Bungie attempt simultaneous launches like for the PC and Xbox? Will it branch out beyond the Xbox? I don't know, but I think we would have seen the true power of the Halo like franchise if it had where 300 million was child's play.

It also has me thinking that Halo3 is the "true" end of the Halo dynasty, which was envisioned as a trilogy anyway, since Microsoft is retaining all rights to the franchise there is little incentive for Bungie to continue efforts on the series and instead would likely create a new series based on this successful gaming style.

So my guess is that no clone of Master Chief is in the works from Bungie and that Halo has run its course. Here is a great video about what the future of Halo could have been.