Sony stunned the gaming world today by acquiring Bungie. This is in response to Microsoft’s mind-boggling $67 billion deal announced earlier this month.
Many fans are now wondering if Bungie was owned by Microsoft and if Sony purchased them from Microsoft. Given that Bungie is well known for developing a number of titles in the Halo franchise, this isn’t a ridiculous thought.
It’s a little complicated. Bungie was founded in 1991 and has since released titles such as Marathon and Myth. In the year 2000, however, Microsoft purchased Bungie and released Halo: Combat Evolved as the launch title for its upcoming console.
In the years since, Xbox has become synonymous with Halo, which speaks volumes about the game’s success.
Bungie announced in 2007 that it was leaving Microsoft to become an independent developer. However, Halo remained with Microsoft, which made sense given how successful it had become for them.
Is Bungie owned by Microsoft?
Bungie West, an offshoot studio, created Oni, which was released in 2001 and was owned by Take-Two Interactive, which held a 19.9% stake at the time.
Bungie was purchased by Microsoft in 2000, and its project Halo: Combat Evolved was repurposed as the launch title for Microsoft’s Xbox console.