Microsoft was pissed that Bungie wanted to announce its new project at E3
Today, as promised, I got more details on Bungie's fight with Microsoft that led to the Xbox 360 maker completely omitting new "Halo" projects from its Monday E3 press conference and the developer canceling its planned announcement of a new game on Wednesday. (If you want full background on the imbroglio combined with what I'm reporting now, read my story in today's Daily Variety)
What was the reason for all the fussing and the feuding? According to a source very close to one of the companies involved, Microsoft was seriously peeved that Bungie was making its own plans to announce its new game on Wednesday at E3.
Even though Bungie's now an independent company, Microsoft is still its publisher and apparently wants to be in charge of PR strategy, especially when it comes to major new game announcements. While that may not be the only cause of tension, I'm told it has been the major issue in the past week and is what precipitated Xbox head Don Mattrick's decision to omit all references to new "Halo" projects on Monday, even "Halo Wars" (which Bungie isn't even developing and is being shown at Microsoft's booth). And it's also, of course, the reason why Microsoft (the mysterious "publisher" in Bungie president Harold Ryan's Tuesday website posting) forced the developer to delay plans to announce its new game.
The view within Microsoft, however, is that Bungie made a premature promise to announce something new at E3 and is now trying to shift the blame.
Going forward, of course, this leaves both sides in an awkward position. Don Mattrick and Harold Ryan are not the best of buddies right now, to say the least.
But it seems like they have to work something out. Microsoft is still Bungie's publisher and owns a minority stake in the studio. And it would be a PR disaster of major proportions for Microsoft if it pissed off Bungie enough that the studio that created "Halo" stopped even consulting on future incarnations.
There has been lots of other relevant reporting on this topic elsewhere today. MTV Multi-player has Don
Mattrick saying that Bungie is working on a new "Halo" game It's not clear exactly what that means (is it solely developing? Helping another developer?), but it's definitely my understanding that Bungie's plan on Wednesday was to announce an original project, not another "Halo" spin-off or sequel.
The L.A. Times quotes Don Mattrick saying that "Halo" was cut from the Monday presser simply due to time concerns. I think it's safe to say he's being less than totally forthright. It's possible, if doubtful, that Microsoft just couldn't fit a demo of "Halo Wars," one of its biggest first party titles coming out in the next year, in the 90 minute event. But the fact that "Halo Wars" was never even mentioned, nor was the mysterious project Multi-Player reported, is conclusive proof in my mind that something else is going on.
The Times also quotes Mattrick comparing the absence of "Halo" to the absence of the "Grand Theft Auto IV" downloadable content from the press conference. But while neither got a demo, I have it here in my notes that some exec at the press conference specifically mentioned that the "GTA IV" episode is coming "later this year." That's more love than any new games with the word "Halo" in the title got.
Finally, the Times implied that Ryan's assertion that Bungie's publisher canceled the planned project announcement was referring to the absence of "Halo" from the Monday press conference. It is quite possible Microsoft was going to announce a new "Halo" game (that Bungie is perhaps working on, per Multi-Player) at Monday's press event and then pulled it. But I know for a fact that Ryan was referring to an announcement planned for Wednesday and I'm pretty sure that it was non-"Halo."
Chris Morris reports on the business and culture of video games and offers analysis of recent events and industry trends.
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Posted by: cheap gw gold | March 11, 2009 at 09:35 PM
The real scoop - MS decided to only show games coming out in 2008...Halo Wars & the new Bungie project are definitely not '08
Posted by: Scott | July 23, 2008 at 09:42 PM
Yeah this situation keeps getting weirder. Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to finding out exactly what has gone down.
Posted by: GeorgeR | July 18, 2008 at 08:56 PM
Good reporting Ben. As the game industry moves closer to a film model with the top developers wielding more clout, we're only going to see more of these growing pains and internal squabbles.
Posted by: Matthew | July 17, 2008 at 09:38 AM
Whether most players care who makes their game is beside the point. MSFT may "own" Halo but Bungie MADE the franchise what it is and in doing so, gave MSFT's customers the best reason to buy two different consoles. For MSFT to disallow Bungie, now an independent developer, from announcing their new property is arrogant and a whole lot of other adjectives that I won't use here. Any success that the Xboxes can claim was built on Bungie's software. MSFT needs to extend some courtest and respect.
Posted by: Scott Gunsaullus | July 17, 2008 at 08:00 AM
I'm pretty sure that Microsoft owns the Halo IP. While the core audience may get upset with a hypothetical schism between Microsoft and Bungie that led to Bungie not working on Halo anymore, I think the vast majority of Halo players could care less who is making the game as long as it says Halo on the cover and was fun to play.
Posted by: Patrick Hightower | July 17, 2008 at 06:32 AM