Why did Bungie sell Halo? Detailed explainer of the game developer's history

Developer Bungie stepped away from Halo and its publisher Microsoft back in 2007. The developer company reportedly wished to expand its horizons int he gaming industry rather than being tied to a single franchise. The company then went on to make Destiny which has been a loved game for a long time now. Last year, in 2019, it was reported that Activision and Bungie have split up and the rights for the game had rolled back to the latter, marking the second time Bungie went through a big change. Read below to know exact details as to why Bungie has had a track record of leaving franchises and tie-ups with other developer companies behind -

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Why did Bungie sell Halo?

After the release of Halo 3, Bungie had announced that they will be parting way from Microsoft to become an independent company. While Bungie has been involved with the making of various Halo games such as ODST and Reach, the rights for the game have been with Microsoft only. Though the company backed out of the deal struck with Microsoft, the tech giant formed an internal division titled 343 Industries which carried forward the work to be done on Halo. 

'Frank O'Connor, a former Bungie employee has been serving as the creative director for 343 Industries. While announcing 343 Industries, Microsoft had also announced that Xbox Live would be becoming a central hub for all halo content. Since then, 343 Industries has been the prominent force behind the Halo franchise. The company's first game titled Halo 4 had released back in November 6, 2012. 

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Image courtesy - Still from Halo 4

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As of now, Bungie has rolled back with the rights of Destiny, away fro Activision. As per reports, the initial deal between the two stated that Bungie and Activision would be in a 10-year partnership, after which the rights for the game would roll back to Bungie. But the 10-year deal evidently did not go through and Activision does not hold the exclusive publication rights for the game anymore. Bungie has now resorted to self-publishing the game on various portals like Epic Games and Discord. 

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