Bungie CEO Denies Claims Surrounding Xbox Acquisition Talks

I don't know...I think Microsoft would be willing to buy Bungie for a high price...

I'd believe this. Though that would just prove how dumb MS were to let Bungie go in the first place. All they had to do was build 343i and allow Bungie the freedom to make Destiny while they were first party. Or at least trust Bungie enough to back Destiny while they were a third party.

Having Destiny be a first party xbox exclusive for the xbox one launch would have been a big deal back in 2013. It's just a reminder of how much xbox messed up with the xbox one beyond just 'always online'.

I think it's better with Bungie being a third party, it allows both Halo and Destiny to exist. You know that if Microsoft rebought Bungie, they'd put Bungie back on Halo.

I don't think it would be a good deal anyways. I mean, they good devs but MS don't want to be the company to force a Destiny 3 just so they can force a platform exclusive, and Destiny 2 is in that odd Minecraft territory where it's everywhere and should not be disrupted, else fans will just hate the change.

At best, maybe MS could work with Bungie the way Nintendo works with Namco, paying them to develop some MS owned IPs.

Honestly I don't see the need/desire to have Bungie be an Xbox Game Studio. They do Destiny, which is great for them....but it's already in Game Pass and would probably remain multiplatform.

@Richnj very true.

Hopefully it stays that way, the industry is better with Bungie being independent

I’d like to see MS buy Bungie as a first party studio and have them put back on the Halo franchise, it has not been the same since they left after Halo Reach. I’ve been happy with what 343i have done so far but the best Halo games were made by Bungie.

What if MS buys Bungie and has them make Myth 4 for XBox?

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

@Grumblevolcano Isn't Destiny basically just MMO Halo but with Activision's monetization model shoehorned in?

Bungie CEO calling shenanigans on this one:

https://twitter.com/pparsons/status/1305528354318163968

Sounds bogus to me. They really sounded like they want to stay independent.

I always thought Bungie was already owned by Microsoft

@Grumblevolcano I'd certainly hope not with how garbage Destiny has been.

@WesEds
They were owned by Microsoft until 2007. Microsoft let them go, and Bungie became an independent studio. They signed a 10 year publishing agreement with Activision in 2010, but ended the agreement to launch Destiny 2. But yes, at one time Microsoft owned Bungie.

https://screenrant.com/destiny-bungie-activision-microsoft-halo-explained/

@HollowSpectre
You never know. I always though Insomniac would remain independent.

That would be a nice acquisition for Xbox..

@WesEds Bungie was independent and primarily Mac focused back in the day. Were bought by MS around the OG XB launch to make Halo, then sold them off when Bungie wanted to make Destiny and MS wanted them to make more Halo. MS founded 343 (oh well...), to replace them, and Bungie agreed to Activision buying them out for a fixed 10 year stint, like a studio "lease" (oh well....). Then a few years back they clawed their way out of the Activision a little early, and went back to independence. Weird history for them.

@Bmartin001 At this point, Bungie only makes Destiny. I'm not sure there's much value to MS to buy back "The Destiny company" considering they sold Bungie because they didn't care about Destiny, to begin with. Myth, Minotaur, Marathon, and Oni aren't exactly franchises MS would love to own (much as I adore Myth <3), and MS already owns Bungies most valuable IP in Halo, which is arguably the better buy than Destiny, which even Activision didn't want to hold onto.

Sure they could get a studio back that actually knows how to make a Halo game....but that's a lot of money to spend when you already have an entire studio dedicated to that, and the only meaningful IP they'd get is one they rejected from the start: Destiny.

@NEStalgia One of the reasons Bungie went with Activision is because Bungie wanted to control and retain the IP. Obviously because of their issues with MS wanting Halo. Acti was one of the only, if not the only, publisher that agreed to that term.

Bungie have created two mega franchises. Even MS' recent studios can't really boast creation of one mega franchise, let alone two (though their talent is still extremely high calibre). Owning Bungue for their talent and hit making factor more so than their IPs, would have been a smart move. Though, after Acti soured the talent and the Destiny IP, I'm not sure that's as true today as it was 7 years ago.

The fact Eurogamer had got confirmation that something was going on between Microsoft and Bungie I can only see the denail from Bungie less about the meetings existing and more to do with the context present here aka "Buying Bungie".

I wouldn't be surprised to hear the meetings did happen but were about MS securing Publishing rights to Bungies next few games or securing them for Day One on gamepass or some such.

@Richnj It's a slippery slope buying a company just to get talent that in the past created very successful things. It rarely translates that that talent continues making new great franchises. Often that talent breaks up and goes separate ways, sometimes because of the buyout itself, sometimes just attrition of time. And even the same people rarely have an unlimited trove of amazing ideas that will just sweep the industry. Great talent to work on existing things is always valuable, but I don't think it usually works out that buying companies to obtain people that previously made a smash hit will pay off by producing another smash hit.

Arguably, Bungie only made smash hits while within the walls of MS, and those two smash hits are more split from the same smash hit (Tell me Desitny is anything other than a Halo spinoff... )

@NEStalgia I agree and although 343 Industries has lacked consistence, I'm sure that Halo Infinite without Bungie will be better than Destiny 2.

@BlueOcean To be fair to bungie, I'm curious what destiny will become without Activision over time. Half that morass is Activision's cod style garbage monitization. In paper halo mmorpgfps should be awesome. Only Activision and ea can mess it up that badly

While it would be a great headline if Microsoft bought Bungie, I don’t really see the point to it.

Destiny is multi platform and that isn’t going to change. And that is Bungie’s only game right now. In addition, a lot of the talent that made the old Halo games of the past have long since left Bungie.

So I’m not sure why Microsoft would want to buy Bungie unless they are looking at creating a new IP? Destiny 2 & all of it’s expansions are already in Game Pass. I would rather see them purchase studios like the previous ones they bought (Playground Games, Obsidian, inXile, etc.).