On another forums from what i read and from what i think, its basically a win/win situation, its still bungie with microsoft but bungie with more freedom...dont quote me or anything though :D

Win/Win situation for MS/Bungie indeed, probably bad for the Halo franchise.

MS wins because they are still Bungie's publisher for some time to come, but they no longer have to pay for the burn rate during downtime, and reduces its risks dramatically.

Bungie wins because it is independent, has more potential for rewards, and does not have to deal with all the MS political/management/decision/marketing issues.

The franchise loses because MS is free to do with it whatever it wants now without having to deal with Bungie bitching about it: Halo Racing!, Halo 3 Vista Only!, Halo 4, 5, 6, 7..., Halo Tennis, Halo Soccer, Halo Barbie, etc.

Short term it is probably better for MS since they avoid the burn rate, they just need to let Bungie borrow advances for the development of their titles, and get the money back at the end, reducing risk.

Bungie is a victim of its own success, expecting a different franchise to do as well as Halo is crazy, not sure if it can be done. It is hard to break record after record on sales.

MS as a company has lots of problems (see minimicrosoft or MSFTExtremeMakeover blogs) so it is not surprising this happened.

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Original post by ldeej Bungie is a victim of its own success, expecting a different franchise to do as well as Halo is crazy, not sure if it can be done. It is hard to break record after record on sales.

I agree knowing that Game Development companies spend an average of $20,000,000.00 on single games. It is hard to come out with a hit title, and to get 2 is just plain lucky. Now does Bungie actually believe they're going to create a title that will sell as well as Halo, or even possibly more? Let me rephrase this in terms of money with what has happened with Halo 3.

Does Bungie expect to make another game that will surpass Halo 3 $300,000,000.00 sales in a one week sale record? Halo 3 is now known in history as the number #1 american product ever sold, for it sold more in one day (Grossed more money than any other one product in american history) than any other product in history. Of course, I only heard about this, but knowing how many people went out and bout a brand new Xbox360 while politicians are arguing over Bush vetoeing a Health Care Plan for kids while also asking for $150,000,000,000.00 for the War in Iraq.

How this happened is beyond me, but I can say I was one of the very few in this matter that didn't buy a Halo 3 game, but I honestly did want one. I was the unfortunate one that was listening to the news about Bush vetoeing a health care bill for children that could of possibly turned this country around, but he vetoed it.

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Original post by Numb3rz I agree knowing that Game Development companies spend an average of $20,000,000.00 on single games. It is hard to come out with a hit title, and to get 2 is just plain lucky. Now does Bungie actually believe they're going to create a title that will sell as well as Halo, or even possibly more? Let me rephrase this in terms of money with what has happened with Halo 3.

Very hard to achieve, on the flip side, being independent, Bungie can sell less games and be better off financially.

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Original post by Numb3rz ... Of course, I only heard about this, but knowing how many people went out and bout a brand new Xbox360 while politicians are arguing over Bush vetoeing a Health Care Plan for kids while also asking for $150,000,000,000.00 for the War in Iraq.

Hmmm... Not sure how politics fit into the picture here, I will stay away from that topic

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Original post by ldeej Hmmm... Not sure how politics fit into the picture here, I will stay away from that topic

I was showing people that the main news of that week was Halo 3, and Bush vetoing a health care plan, and that I just found it very ironic that is all.

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Original post by Numb3rz I agree knowing that Game Development companies spend an average of $20,000,000.00 on single games. It is hard to come out with a hit title, and to get 2 is just plain lucky. Now does Bungie actually believe they're going to create a title that will sell as well as Halo, or even possibly more? Let me rephrase this in terms of money with what has happened with Halo 3.

Be very careful with that argument.

"Selling well" is different than, but related to, the ultimate goal of profitability. Companies exist to make a profit, and do that through selling products. If they do not sell products profitably, then they go out of business quickly. If they make less profit than they might have otherwise made through different choices, there is generally room for improvement. (Note also that there are many good arguments about long term strategy vs. short term profits, but that's another conversation.) There are many post-release costs beyond the cost of game development, including distribution, marketing, online support, and technical support, which can add huge numbers to the total expenses of the product.

Also, what do you mean by "it is hard to come out with a hit title"? What do you define as a hit? There are many AAA games that are extremely profitable but not what most people call a "hit title." For most studios, if their game gives enough profit to last another year or two, it is an excellent title. There are many low-rated games that are moderately successful relative to all games, but still a hit for the company that made them.

Personally, if the net profit (after recovering costs) is more than a year of operating capital, I see it as a *huge* success for the business. For small companies, that can be reached by simply hitting the million copy mark. For micro-business it could be hit at the half-million mark. Those marks are also great because they encourage future licenses and publishing agreements.

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Does Bungie expect to make another game that will surpass Halo 3 $300,000,000.00 sales in a one week sale record?

Probably not. But also ask yourself, how much of the profit did the Bungie guys get? How much of it was redirected into corporate stock, into research, into failing products, into other corporate areas, and the "Buy BillG And SteveB A New Yacht" slush funds?

As a separate company they can probably see more net profit, even with far fewer sales. They also gain the ability to acquire or produce additional IP, gain flexibility in management and corporate direction, and gain independence from corporate and government oversight (Microsoft is heavily regulated around the globe.) It also means they lose the protection of being part of an enormous entity, and they must work harder to fill many gaps in their own corporate infrastructure. Being independent is often more work than being a subsidiary.

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Halo 3 is now known in history as the number #1 american product ever sold, for it sold more in one day (Grossed more money than any other one product in american history) than any other product in history.

Gross monetary sales are overrated. Every year, thanks to inflation, there is a new "most profitable first few days" item. It is true that it was the most money on a single video game in the first week, but it won't hold that distinction for too long. Many other franchises enjoy far more net profit over the long haul, and that is what matters to business.

I believe that internally, Microsoft execs are upset about losing them, and Bungie will be better off without them. Bungie's products were extremely profitable for them, and I believe that they were holding back the group's creativity and profitability while also "sharing" a large portion of the profits that the Bungie group's products earned. Bungie's execs demonstrated before their acquisition that they knew how to run a business well. If they managed to learn from Microsoft and also haven't forgotten their earlier lessons, they will likely continue to be a very strong force in the industry.

For the record, the Halo movie is completely dead in the water.

I think people are reading into this event too much, AFAIK it's pretty normal for a large entity (MSBung [lol]) to split after such large (and hard to replicate) success. The point being, that the new two entities MS and Bung now become competitors and hence aim to become more profitable (sum of the parts).

Case in point: ASUS, they have split several times over their long history, and did so just recently after landing the contract to build the XB360 mobos, FYI Acer Corporation was the result of ASUS splitting after reporting a several highly profitable quarters but with little improvement between quarters.

Also, hard to follow the success of Halo 1, 2 and 3 with something bigger? I think not, Blizzard, Rockstar and Epic (just to name a few) have been doing it for years (ok ok, so maybe not $300,000,000 but still very good).

Not really a win for microsoft here guys.

The Bungie guys have been really unhappy with Msft management for some time now, especially the lack of independence. From what I hear, it was either have some of the Bungie talent break apart on their own and form their own company (even move back to Chicago), or break Bungie away from MSFT but keep the talent together.

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Original post by ldeej Very hard to achieve, on the flip side, being independent, Bungie can sell less games and be better off financially.

Only if Bungie's overhead is less. Bungie would have to make games with smaller scope, or lower overall development costs, to be more profitable with smaller gross sales.

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Original post by silvermace Also, hard to follow the success of Halo 1, 2 and 3 with something bigger? I think not, Blizzard, Rockstar and Epic (just to name a few) have been doing it for years (ok ok, so maybe not $300,000,000 but still very good).

Keep in mind that Epic makes more money by licensing its technology out than it does from sales of its games. Rockstar is not independent, and never has been, so it's an apples and oranges comparison. Blizzard is a lot more comparable to Bungie, but a good half of its games fall into two franchises: WarCraft and StarCraft. Does Bungie get to keep the Halo IP as part of the deal? Who knows?