It’s official. Bungie is now a privately held independent company, meaning they are no longer owned by Microsoft. Although Bungie is not owned by Microsoft anymore, Microsoft still owns a minority equity interest in Bungie.

As part of the transaction, both companies will still have a development and publishing relationship focused on the continuing success of the “Halo” franchise.

“This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,” said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft’s platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through ‘Halo’ and beyond.”

Bungie was founded in 1991 and came to success with the first two “Myth” games, but “Halo” became global success for them when they worked with Microsoft.

“Working with Microsoft was great for us, it allowed us to grow as a team and make the ambitious, blockbuster games we all wanted to work on. And they will continue to be a great partner. But Bungie is like a shark. We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees,” said Jason Jones, Bungie founder and partner.

It’s uncertain now if Bungie will develop games for other gaming consoles, but this can change in the near future.

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

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2 Comments » Nate on October 5, 2007 3:29 pm “Bungie was founded in 1991 and came to success with the first two “Myth” games, but “Halo” became global success for them when they worked with Microsoft.” I’m pretty sure that Halo was set to become a really popular PC game before Microsoft bought Bungie and significantly pushed back it’s release so it could be a console game. Then again, maybe I’m on something. Ken on October 6, 2007 8:04 pm No, you’re right. I remember being so stoked for this game even when it was set for a mac release, then they said it would come to the computer and I almost lost it. Then Microsoft bought Bungie and the whole thing was set back many years. RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.