Halo franchise almost ended after Bungie left Microsoft

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The Halo franchise is a mainstay of the Xbox ecosystem and is beloved the world over by console and PC gamers, but it almost met its end at a critical moment. Bungie left Microsoft in late 2007 following the completion of Halo 3 in order to cut out on their own and make something new. (That new game eventually turned out to be Destiny.) The conclusion of Halo 3 was somewhat ambiguous and left open the possibility for future games—but we almost didn’t get any.

“When we spun Bungie out, the future of Halo was uncertain,” veteran Microsoft developer Bonnie Ross told IGN. Bonnie Ross was at the forefront of a group who wanted to see the Halo franchise continue. Unfortunately, they had the minor issue of not having anyone at Microsoft to develop it.

Essentially, there were only three options on the table for the future of the Halo franchise:

Create a new studio with Microsoft developers to specifically develop future Halo titles.
Contract or acquire a third-party studio to develop the next Halo game.
Let the Halo story end with the ambiguous conclusion of Halo 3.


Obviously, Microsoft decided to go with option one by forming 343 Industries (named after the character 343 Guilty Spark). Option two was seriously considered with Gearbox as the first pick for a third-party studio that could do the job well. (People who purchased Aliens: Colonial Marines may have just fainted from shock.) The third and final was the last resort and not exactly the most ideal way to do things. After all, the Halo universe is a big one and there was plenty of room for the developers to continue the story of Master Chief or do something entirely new.

Ultimately, we got a little bit of everything. Halo: Reach allowed us to see a little more of the world from the perspective of someone other than Master Chief and several sequels continued the main story. The upcoming Halo Infinite is looking to be one of the most anticipated games in the Halo franchise and one of the most anticipated Xbox One exclusives.



Posted:
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/502319-halo-franchise-almost-ended-bungie

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"Halo franchise almost ended after Bungie left Microsoft" :: Login/Create an Account :: 13 comments

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RedactedPosted:

Needs to step up otherwise it'll be dead

XboxPosted:

Thank god it didn't even though it needs to step its game up just like cod they use to be the two best franchises and now they've turned to shit.

RyanPosted:

imagine life without halo, nope cant

Two_FacedPosted:

Maze
Two_Faced
Maze It could have been better for halo if halo ended. The series now is in a bad place and 343i really destroyed halo, I hope this new game gets it right


Halo wasn't ruined by 343. Halo 3 was absolute trash compared to Halo CE or Halo 2. I'll admit Reach was garbage too but Halo 5 was actually a great game and had years (still being played today) of life. It has over 10k daily players at a low estimate. That's great for a game that's nearing 5 years old.

I live less than 30 min from Bungie, and Microsoft headquarters. A very good friend has worked at Microsoft for 13+ year in HR. I can tell you from personal knowledge Halo wasn't ever going anywhere. Bungie, wanted to work on a different game (later turned into destiny) but Microsoft wanted them to continue work on Halo. BUT their contract was over after Halo 3, trust me when I say Microsoft would have renewed their contract for another Halo game in a second if Bungie wasn't stuck on starting a new game. Arguably one of the worst decisions the developer has made.


It's really all personal preference. Halo 3 was my favorite game of all time. I thought bungie started killing halo with reach. I'm also one of the only ones who really enjoyed Halo 4, as I was insane on that game and played against pros every day. But here's what you have to understand, 343 really did kill halo. No one cares about halo 4 or halo 5, competitive halo has been going downhill since halo reach ended and the only tournaments people care about now are MCC ones, the huge fan base halo had is for the most part gone because of so many bad releases in a row. I'll never give up on halo because as I said, halo 3 is my favorite game ever, but I'm fully aware of that state of halo and it has not been good for a very long time.


True. A lot of people liked halo 3 more than halo 2. I was a freshman in high school when I got into Halo 2 competitively. We held a few local tournements at a game stores around my area. Some good memories with that. I preferred the ranking system in Halo 2 also, was literally impossible to get a legit 50. Halo 3 was a super fun game and I put hundreds of hours into it, but I feel like it was a lot less of a skill gap than halo 2. With BXR, BXB double shot, triple shot, etc.. some of those glitches made the skill gap insane in that game. I feel like all these developers the last 10 years would rather sell a couple more copies than have a die hard fan base.

AnimePosted:

I think this would of only been a small change.

EternityPosted:

OGTrey079 How they leave in 2007 tho when they developed halo reach which was years later..



Bungie used to be owned by Microsoft. In 2007, Bungie asked Microsoft if they could become an independent studio again (so they could work on something non-Halo) and Microsoft said yes.

But, they technically still had an agreement to make 2 more Halo games after Halo 3. Those 2 games became Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach.

OGTrey079Posted:

How they leave in 2007 tho when they developed halo reach which was years later..

HiPosted:

I've never been a fan of halo, but it's going to take more than that to end the series.

MazePosted:

Two_Faced
Maze It could have been better for halo if halo ended. The series now is in a bad place and 343i really destroyed halo, I hope this new game gets it right


Halo wasn't ruined by 343. Halo 3 was absolute trash compared to Halo CE or Halo 2. I'll admit Reach was garbage too but Halo 5 was actually a great game and had years (still being played today) of life. It has over 10k daily players at a low estimate. That's great for a game that's nearing 5 years old.

I live less than 30 min from Bungie, and Microsoft headquarters. A very good friend has worked at Microsoft for 13+ year in HR. I can tell you from personal knowledge Halo wasn't ever going anywhere. Bungie, wanted to work on a different game (later turned into destiny) but Microsoft wanted them to continue work on Halo. BUT their contract was over after Halo 3, trust me when I say Microsoft would have renewed their contract for another Halo game in a second if Bungie wasn't stuck on starting a new game. Arguably one of the worst decisions the developer has made.


It's really all personal preference. Halo 3 was my favorite game of all time. I thought bungie started killing halo with reach. I'm also one of the only ones who really enjoyed Halo 4, as I was insane on that game and played against pros every day. But here's what you have to understand, 343 really did kill halo. No one cares about halo 4 or halo 5, competitive halo has been going downhill since halo reach ended and the only tournaments people care about now are MCC ones, the huge fan base halo had is for the most part gone because of so many bad releases in a row. I'll never give up on halo because as I said, halo 3 is my favorite game ever, but I'm fully aware of that state of halo and it has not been good for a very long time.

EternityPosted:

I'm glad they were able to make an in-house studio and keep the franchise going. Hopefully they can continue to improve the games they are putting out and they will lose the bad wrap a lot of the hardcore fans have given them.

Something that could have been made clearer in the article is that, even though Bungie went independent in 2007, they still made Halo games until 2010 with Halo: Reach.

-----

Two_Faced
Maze It could have been better for halo if halo ended. The series now is in a bad place and 343i really destroyed halo, I hope this new game gets it right


Halo wasn't ruined by 343. Halo 3 was absolute trash compared to Halo CE or Halo 2. I'll admit Reach was garbage too but Halo 5 was actually a great game and had years (still being played today) of life. It has over 10k daily players at a low estimate. That's great for a game that's nearing 5 years old.

I live less than 30 min from Bungie, and Microsoft headquarters. A very good friend has worked at Microsoft for 13+ year in HR. I can tell you from personal knowledge Halo wasn't ever going anywhere. Bungie, wanted to work on a different game (later turned into destiny) but Microsoft wanted them to continue work on Halo. BUT their contract was over after Halo 3, trust me when I say Microsoft would have renewed their contract for another Halo game in a second if Bungie wasn't stuck on starting a new game. Arguably one of the worst decisions the developer has made.


While I don't agree with your opinions on the quality of Halo games over time, to each their own. But, I find it interesting how just yesterday you said that Bungie was "cut out" by Microsoft instead of Bungie wanting to leave, as you stated in the quote above.


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