6 ms·

I find the journey of Bungie studios the past 2 decades a fascinating and kind of ironic story. - ~2001, Bungie develops Halo as a title for the launch of Mac

I find the journey of Bungie studios the past 2 decades a fascinating and kind of ironic story. - ~2001, Bungie develops Halo as a title for the launch of Mac gaming. - MS snipes the IP and make it an Xbox flagship instead. - Halo evolves as the lead IP of Xbox gaming. - ~2010, Bungie gains independence from MS, but loses Halo in the divorce. - Bungie teams up with Activision to stay competitive. - 2022, MS acquires Activison! Bungie hangs in the balance. - Bungie narrowly escapes MS clutches and teams up with Sony! Have to wonder if MS thought they would get Bungie as part of the package. Regardless, props to them for really forging their own "Destiny" ;)

Jcowell 5y ago
Your timeline is off Bungie left Activision years before and became independent leading up to now.
- disambiguation 5y ago
  huh TIL.. slightly less ironic then.
gwern 5y ago
It's kinda sad seeing them bought up again. I was reading https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-h... yesterday (great but long read) and they really desperately wanted out of MS, and - victims of their own success with Halo 1 - made a lot of Halo games they didn't want to as the price of freedom. And now here they are again in a big conglomerate.
gnabgib 5y ago
Almost nothing you've got here is accurate. - Halo was announced in 1999, originally planned as an RTS for Windows + Mac, not for the launch of Mac gaming (not Mac only, although prior titles were focused on Mac only) - MS purchased Bungie in 2000 - While Halo was a flagship, it was also released on Windows + Mac in the end (two years late), no IP sniping - 2007 Bungie splits from MS to a private company (leaving the Halo franchise behind), not 2010 - 2010-2019 Bungie partners with Activision, they coop to make Destiny - there was no acquisition - 3 years ago (2019) Bungie ends the partnership, keeps Destiny franchise - There's no way MS considered a company that had a former relationship with an acquisition might be thrown in [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(franchise) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(franchise) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie
- steveklabnik 5y ago
  > originally planned as an RTS for Windows + Mac, not for the launch of Mac gaming How I read the OP (at least for this bullet) is in line with what I remember at the time: Halo was originally a Mac exclusive, and us Mac gamers (there were dozens of us, dozens!) generally perceived it as being the beginning of a golden era, where Mac would be taken as seriously as PC for games. I was absolutely heartbroken when it moved to XBox exclusive. I still ended up buying one for Halo anyway, just like everyone else. EDIT: that being said, I was a kid at the time, and reading up on things, it was announced by Jobs during MacWorld that it was going to be Mac + Windows, so I don't know if my memory of the situation is about rumors before launch, if I misunderstood things because I was 13 at the time, or if I simply have mis-remembered because that was over 20 years ago, hah.
  - tablespoon 5y ago
    >>> - ~2001, Bungie develops Halo as a title for the launch of Mac gaming. >> - Halo was announced in 1999, originally planned as an RTS for Windows + Mac, not for the launch of Mac gaming (not Mac only, although prior titles were focused on Mac only) > How I read the OP (at least for this bullet) is in line with what I remember at the time: Halo was originally a Mac exclusive, and us Mac gamers (there were dozens of us, dozens!) generally perceived it as being the beginning of a golden era, where Mac would be taken as seriously as PC for games. That's how I remember perceiving it: finally a Mac game that the PC gaming kids would be jealous of. Also, I think it had already evolved into a FPS before MS bought it (I remember thinking the vehicles would be really novel and compelling feature compared to PC FPSes). Gaming with a Mac was a backwater in the 90s. All the popular games would get a belated Mac port, if that (e.g. by the time PC gamers moved on to Command and Conquer: Red Alert, I just was able to play the original Command and Conquer, and Red Alert was never ported at all). Bungie's games were Mac-only and good, but (for instance) by the time I played the Marathon series, the tech was dated. Edit: corrected mistake, I was thinking about Command and Conquer/Red Alert, not Starcraft/Brood war.
    - AntiRush 5y ago
      I think you are misremembering the Brood War release. It was available for Mac 6 months after the PC release, and the “battle chest”,which contained both StarCraft and brood war, was mac/windows hybrid. The battle chest was by far the biggest seller, too.
WorldMaker 5y ago
> Have to wonder if MS thought they would get Bungie as part of the package. So much of the drama in the Activision publishing contract on Destiny was that Activision intentionally got none of the IP. Bungie blamed the brutal expansion pack cadence and expansion pack prices on Activision covering their bases because they didn't have a stake as publisher in the IP. Which is probably true, but one of those "it takes two to tango" type things. Bungie had a real nasty public break up with Activision just before Destiny 2 went free-to-play (and supposedly it is part of how they were able to get it free-to-play). I'm sure Microsoft knew buying Activision would not give them any of Destiny or Bungie.
- Zandikar 5y ago
  > I'm sure Microsoft knew buying Activision would not give them any of Destiny or Bungie. Microsoft's first clue that they wouldn't be getting Bungie is that Activision didn't own Bungie (it was a partnership over the Destiny IP), and that that partnership ended in 2019, a little over 3 years ago.
Jaepa 5y ago
They were also originally a Classic Mac OS game shop. Marathon series & Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete where originally release on Mac. Myth & Oni were released for both Mac & Windows.

Jcowell 5y ago

Your timeline is off Bungie left Activision years before and became independent leading up to now.

disambiguation 5y ago
huh TIL.. slightly less ironic then.

gwern 5y ago

It's kinda sad seeing them bought up again. I was reading https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-h... yesterday (great but long read) and they really desperately wanted out of MS, and - victims of their own success with Halo 1 - made a lot of Halo games they didn't want to as the price of freedom. And now here they are again in a big conglomerate.

gnabgib 5y ago

Almost nothing you've got here is accurate. - Halo was announced in 1999, originally planned as an RTS for Windows + Mac, not for the launch of Mac gaming (not Mac only, although prior titles were focused on Mac only) - MS purchased Bungie in 2000 - While Halo was a flagship, it was also released on Windows + Mac in the end (two years late), no IP sniping - 2007 Bungie splits from MS to a private company (leaving the Halo franchise behind), not 2010 - 2010-2019 Bungie partners with Activision, they coop to make Destiny - there was no acquisition - 3 years ago (2019) Bungie ends the partnership, keeps Destiny franchise - There's no way MS considered a company that had a former relationship with an acquisition might be thrown in [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(franchise) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(franchise) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie

steveklabnik 5y ago
> originally planned as an RTS for Windows + Mac, not for the launch of Mac gaming How I read the OP (at least for this bullet) is in line with what I remember at the time: Halo was originally a Mac exclusive, and us Mac gamers (there were dozens of us, dozens!) generally perceived it as being the beginning of a golden era, where Mac would be taken as seriously as PC for games. I was absolutely heartbroken when it moved to XBox exclusive. I still ended up buying one for Halo anyway, just like everyone else. EDIT: that being said, I was a kid at the time, and reading up on things, it was announced by Jobs during MacWorld that it was going to be Mac + Windows, so I don't know if my memory of the situation is about rumors before launch, if I misunderstood things because I was 13 at the time, or if I simply have mis-remembered because that was over 20 years ago, hah.
- tablespoon 5y ago
  >>> - ~2001, Bungie develops Halo as a title for the launch of Mac gaming. >> - Halo was announced in 1999, originally planned as an RTS for Windows + Mac, not for the launch of Mac gaming (not Mac only, although prior titles were focused on Mac only) > How I read the OP (at least for this bullet) is in line with what I remember at the time: Halo was originally a Mac exclusive, and us Mac gamers (there were dozens of us, dozens!) generally perceived it as being the beginning of a golden era, where Mac would be taken as seriously as PC for games. That's how I remember perceiving it: finally a Mac game that the PC gaming kids would be jealous of. Also, I think it had already evolved into a FPS before MS bought it (I remember thinking the vehicles would be really novel and compelling feature compared to PC FPSes). Gaming with a Mac was a backwater in the 90s. All the popular games would get a belated Mac port, if that (e.g. by the time PC gamers moved on to Command and Conquer: Red Alert, I just was able to play the original Command and Conquer, and Red Alert was never ported at all). Bungie's games were Mac-only and good, but (for instance) by the time I played the Marathon series, the tech was dated. Edit: corrected mistake, I was thinking about Command and Conquer/Red Alert, not Starcraft/Brood war.
  - AntiRush 5y ago
    I think you are misremembering the Brood War release. It was available for Mac 6 months after the PC release, and the “battle chest”,which contained both StarCraft and brood war, was mac/windows hybrid. The battle chest was by far the biggest seller, too.

WorldMaker 5y ago

> Have to wonder if MS thought they would get Bungie as part of the package. So much of the drama in the Activision publishing contract on Destiny was that Activision intentionally got none of the IP. Bungie blamed the brutal expansion pack cadence and expansion pack prices on Activision covering their bases because they didn't have a stake as publisher in the IP. Which is probably true, but one of those "it takes two to tango" type things. Bungie had a real nasty public break up with Activision just before Destiny 2 went free-to-play (and supposedly it is part of how they were able to get it free-to-play). I'm sure Microsoft knew buying Activision would not give them any of Destiny or Bungie.

Zandikar 5y ago
> I'm sure Microsoft knew buying Activision would not give them any of Destiny or Bungie. Microsoft's first clue that they wouldn't be getting Bungie is that Activision didn't own Bungie (it was a partnership over the Destiny IP), and that that partnership ended in 2019, a little over 3 years ago.

Jaepa 5y ago

They were also originally a Classic Mac OS game shop. Marathon series & Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete where originally release on Mac. Myth & Oni were released for both Mac & Windows.