The original developer for the Halo games, Bungie was acquired by Microsoft in 2000 before the release of Xbox system-seller Halo: Combat Evolved. The studio then parted ways after finishing Halo: Reach, after which it developed Destiny and its sequel-which, of course, has been going strong to this date.
In a recent interview with Axios, head of Xbox Phil Spencer talked about the split, and interestingly, said that the modern day Xbox-ecosystem wouldn’t have any problems in keeping the company.
“Could we do it today? I think we could,” Spencer said.
Spencer did acknowledge that the reason Bungie chose to regain its independence at the time was understandable, seeing as the success of Halo benefited Microsoft far more than it benefited Bungie itself.
“At the time they had big ambitions,” he said. “They had sold their business for a certain amount of money. They saw what Halo turned into. And it’s like, ‘OK, Microsoft benefited more than Bungie did from the success of Halo.’ There’s no other story that can be written there.”
Referring to Destiny, Spencer added: “If you’re saying, ‘Hey, I think I’ve got another one of those in me. I want to really take another chance,’ I can understand the allure of doing that as an independent company.”
Halo’s current developer, 343 Industries, is hard at work on its upcoming shooter Halo Infinite. The game’s free to play multiplayer component is already available to play (though still technically in beta), and the single player portion will launch on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 8th.