Bungie and Microsoft officially split

Well Shane Kim has said that MS "will continue to invest in our Halo entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the Halo universe. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through Halo-related titles and new IP created by Bungie".

From that I guess that Bungie get to work on their own new IP next but after that will be handed a nice big incentive by MS to work on more Halo stuff. Nice deal for Bungie I’d imagine.

1UP: For all the super fans: does this mean Bungie won’t work on whatever "Halo 4" turns out to be?

Jarrard: Well we are already at work on another Halo game — I wouldn’t call it "Halo 4", but it is based in the Halo Universe and represents a collaboration between Bungie and Peter Jackson. Halo 3 was definitely not the last Bungie Halo game. [/quote:2f76cc68cd]

I think this is great news for bungie they are still very close to Microsoft but have a lot more freedom.

Funny I read this rumour a while ago, thought it was total bs (although a date of delivery of the new was give with the rumour, seems to be the exact date indeed), but i guess smoke and fire often do go hand in hand.lol..

Heres pretty much the article i read
source from http://www.8bitjoystick.com/ posted about a week or more ago, but i read it somewhere else, a good bit before this site got it.

QUOTE:

Bungie Leaving Microsoft!! You heard it here first folks
A friend of mine who has someone close to them that works at Bungie has just been dying to tell me a secret about their future. Since the NDA officially expire today the sent me and email with the details. I have full faith in this contact.

The email is as follows :

"So heres my big secret. You should google Bungie + Microsoft + separation this week.
You know that big ol BILLION dollar franchise Bungie has created for Microsoft, to show their appreciate Microsoft is letting Bungie leave. Of course Microsoft gets to keep all rights to the Halo franchise, but as today Bungie no longer part of Microsoft. Ask anyone who works there to search the global address book, they’re no longer in there. Microsoft was supposed to release the press release today but if they wait till the 10/6 the impact wont effect the quarterly results. However today is the actual official date and the day the NDAs expire, however you still didn’t hear this from me."

"Apparently MS just wants Bungie to make Halo for the rest of their natural days, and Bungie doesn’t like how MS is constantly trying to "handle" everything they do; the way they market their games, the way they interact with their fans (basically the fact that they do appreciate their fans), and how stingie they are with the profits (comparable to the rest of the industry). So as of today they are their own independent entity. They’ll probably make Halo 4 for Microsoft, however hey are also free to create new intellectual properties for whatever system they want. (Even though they prefer the xbox platform)"

"What a way to say thank you."

Interesting stuff.
Stingie with the profits though? Not sure how fair that is. I think any profit sharing has to be seen in the light that Microsoft’s entertainment division are already footing major costs in getting the xbox business toward profitability rather than shelling out loads per title before the division reaches the black.

Once true profits are made perhaps those that stuck with microsoft and contributed to the platforms success may be rewarded retroactively or at least in line for bigger pay days. That said if anyone is due rewards it is Bungie.