Pressure from Microsoft … unbearable!! Shield … can’t take … much more!

Halo 3 sales figures have been announced and Microsoft states that it has made $300 million dollars worldwide and sales of the Xbox 360 console have doubled. The Halo phenomenon has hit its online play as well, with Xbox Live totaling close to a million users playing.

“Halo is truly a cultural phenomenon, and the launch of Halo 3 is an important milestone for Xbox 360 and for videogames as entertainment and as an art form,” said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. “Halo 3 embodies our vision for the future of entertainment, where some of the world’s greatest creative minds will deliver a new generation of interactive storytelling.”

Rumors have also been flying around that Bungie, the creator of the Halo series is leaving Microsoft. According to blogger “8bitjoystick” over at Seattlepi.com, he received an e-mail from a friend who knows an employee of Bungie stating the following:

“So heres my big secret. You should google Bungie + Microsoft + separation this week. You know that big ol BILLION dollar franchise Bungie has created for Microsoft, to show their appreciate Microsoft is letting Bungie leave. Of course Microsoft gets to keep all rights to the Halo franchise, but as today Bungie no longer part of Microsoft. Ask anyone who works there to search the global address book, they’re no longer in there. Microsoft was supposed to release the press release today but if they wait till the 10/6 the impact wont effect the quarterly results. However today is the actual official date and the day the NDAs expire, however you still didn’t hear this from me.”

“Apparently MS just wants Bungie to make Halo for the rest of their natural days, and Bungie doesn’t like how MS is constantly trying to “handle” everything they do; the way they market their games, the way they interact with their fans (basically the fact that they do appreciate their fans), and how stingie they are with the profits (comparable to the rest of the industry). So as of today they are their own independent entity. They’ll probably make Halo 4 for Microsoft, however hey are also free to create new intellectual properties for whatever system they want. (Even though they prefer the xbox platform)”

It’s hard to understand why Bungie would want to leave Microsoft after one of the most successful game launches so far in this decade.

Ripten will keep you posted on any further information.

Tags: Bungie, Halo-3, Master-Chief, split

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