Disintegration Developer’s Recruitment of Bungie Staff Ruffled a Few Feathers Among Bungie Leadership

Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto and his team at V1 Interactive are gearing up for next year’s launch of their new shooter-strategy hybrid Disintegration, and the game bears more than just a passing resemblance to Lehto’s previous creation. Hell, even its transformation from a strategy game to a shooter during early development mirrors Halo’s own transformation nearly two decades ago.

And for Disintegration’s development, Lehto has tapped up talent in the industry that he has worked with in the past- which, of course, includes many former Bungie employees. In fact, according to Lehto in an interview with VGC, his recruitment of Bungie staff made the leadership at Bungie none too happy.

When Disintegration’s development started out, Lehto planned on funding the production out of his own pocket- but when he signed on with publisher Private Division, things started changing.

“That’s when I started reaching out to my old colleagues from Bungie who I worked with for many years and hired 10 or 15 years ago,” said Lehto. “It was great to be able to hire them back as colleagues for V1 Interactive. They come from all walks of life, both artists and designers and they are great crew of individuals.”

According to Lehto, his hirings of Bungie staff led to him getting a few calls from leadership at said studio.

“Once we started bringing on some of the key talent from Bungie, then others would start to magnetise towards that and it became a really great family,” Lehto said. “Of course, I got a few calls from the Bungie leadership who weren’t too happy about this dream studio, but they understood that we’re all still good friends and get along well.”

However, Lehto clarifies that he still shares a good relationship with Bungie and the people working there.

“I do,” he said, when asked about the same. “I still go backpack hiking with the president and CFO of Bungie.”

Plenty of interesting new info has emerged on Disintegration in recent days, from its narrative premise, to its tone, to what its single player campaign is going to be like. Read about it all through the links.

Disintegration launches some time next year for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.