Microsoft’s just confirmed that Bungie will soon “embark on a path to become an independent company.” Microsoft will retain an equity interest in Bungie and continue “its long standing publishing agreement between Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie for the Microsoft owned “Halo” intellectual property as well as other future properties developed by Bungie.”

Wow.

VP of Microsoft Game Studios Shane Kim stated that “While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we 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.”

I don’t know quite how this happened. Given the enormous popularity of the Halo series, it’s easy to forget that Bungie did a lot of other games before working with Microsoft. I think it’s a good move for Bungie. I often felt that the Halo series was a victim of its own success, with such a huge fan following making more than tweaking the established gameplay mechanics of the game difficult. I’m still trying to work out what Microsoft is getting out of this, given the enormous popularity of the Halo series. Let the conspiracy theories begin. More on this breaking news as we get it.

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