Is Microsoft going to buy back Bungie?

According to the website the friendlyassaasin.com, this might more than just possible. OR it could all be BUNK…

Below is a partial reblog of their article.

First is this not so cryptic tweet from Shinobi:

As the article states, Shinobi has long been known to be accurate in his predictions, especially when concerning with Halo. He predicted the Halo 5 reveal, nearly if not all of the features of the HMCC and more. This tweet has since been deleted. And as the article also says, it’s not like Shinobi to delete his tweets…

Add to that this tweet:

Darren was the voice, motion capture actor for Tom Lasky in Halo 4. Hmmm…

And finally, what could be the most important piece of ‘evidence’ is this post by Frank O’Conner on Neogaf:

Okay, before I go further, please treat this as RUMOR. Even though the tweets/posts have been reposted here. Until we have confirmation of such, this is conjecture.

Alright, now that that is said, let’s discuss the potential implications of this.

Again, Shinobi hasn’t been wrong with major news regarding Halo. It could very well be that MS is looking to by back Bungie. But would they WANT to be bought back? It’s pretty well known that they (Bungie) were looking to depart Microsoft. The break away was bad. Many from Bungie didn’t want anything to do with Halo again, due to Microsoft. So while Shinobi may be right in MS wanting Bungie, that doesn’t mean Bungie wants MS.

Now to Darren O’Hare, his tweet does not necessarily mean it’s Halo related. After all, Nathan Fillion went on to voice for Destiny, Bungie’s newest IP. Perhaps Darren is doing something similar in Destiny.

Finally, while Frank O’Conner’s post might seem to be the nail in the coffin, since there isn’t specific information here, this could be just about anything.

It could mean a new game, a delay of games, new leadership…OR it could indeed mean Bungie is coming back. If so though, what happens to 343?

So here’s my thinking on this. First, this could all be bunk form the friendly assassin. Could those tweets be made up? Sure they can. Easily photoshopped. And with them being supposedly deleted, there is no true proof they actually existed. As to Frank’s post, I can’t find that on Neogaf. But then, I’m not a huge Gaffer and that forum is massive.

Now, on the outside chance this might be real…I know many fans, would be ecstatic at Bungie return. Halo 4 wasn’t so well received. Yes, it hit initial sales numbers, but the game did not sustain the longevity of gameplay as all of the other games had. Even Reach did much better than Halo 4.

Add to this the monumental failure of the launch of the Halo Master Chief collection, it’s clear that 343 really dug themselves into a hole. So, it’s not unthinkable that MS might want Bungie to come back and take over Halo again.

In my opinion, I personally don’t want all of the 343 people to be tossed aside. There are a LOT of great people who work there and have done excellent work. That said, I do think there needs to be a change in leadership. Decisions made with the story of Halo 4 derailed what little had been known of the Forerunners before. They were supposed to be ancient humans, not another race. BTW, my feeling on a change of leadership is independent of thefriendlyassassin’s article. I think leadership does need to change, regardless.

Also, think about the decision to toss Requiem into it’s star. Frank O’Conner made that decision in a meeting with the Spartan Ops team. This showed that there wasn’t much planning beyond the initial first few episodes. I, and many, thought that Requiem would be the place that the new ‘trilogy’ would take place. Certainly with a whole world to explore, there was enough story there for three games. Spartan Ops was to go on past one season. However, since it was poorly received, 343 chose to can it. Again, poor decisions with reused maps, personally I was okay with them, but the majority of folks were not, so you have to go with that. Ultimately the decision to toss Requiem away meant that 343 would have to go back to the drawing board in finding a new story to tell.

That makes the story look choppy and/or without much cohesion between titles. Yes, there are the comics and novels to help that, but not all Halo fans will go out and get them.

Now, one of the biggest issues I have as many others do is the outsourcing of much of the development of the games 343 has done. While outsourcing is certainly done, the level/amount of which 343 relied on seems to be more than what would be usual. At the least, some of those companies chosen for the outsourcing certainly did not meet the expectations of 343/MS and more importantly, fans.

So where does that leave the Halo franchise? Right now, it’s in a pretty sad state. 343 is trying to revitalize the competitive aspect of matchmaking. But that’s not all of what needs to be done. Throwing money at fans in the form of tournaments isn’t going to cut it. What they/MS/fans need is a stellar, ready-to-go out of the box game upon release. One without a confusing story, one with awesome matchmaking that ANYONE can play, but that skilled players can exceed at, and let’s please toss in another mode like Firefight for those who want to play something casual form time to time.

Is 343 up to the task? I’m sure they are. Are they capable of it? I’d say the majority are. It’s the poor decision making that needs to go and that can only be attributed to the highest levels of personnel at 343. Ultimately it rests on their hands/heads.

I personally do not see Bungie coming back to Microsoft. They just do NOT want to go back there. Even if they were given COMPLETE autonomy to develop Halo as they saw fit, the past relationship with MS tarnishes this whole thing. Also, in the very unlikely event that Bungie WOULD come back to Halo, would they have to or, be willing to absorbed any of the developers from 343?

There are so many more questions that can be asked here. If this all ends up being just rumor, at the least MS and 343 need to take a look at the community and what our reactions to these rumors are. They need to understand the state of Halo AND it’s community, right NOW, not what it potentially could be when Halo 5 releases.

Suffice to say, I’ll stay on top of this and will report anything I find out about it, whether it’s real or contradicted. This could very well be the fate of the Halo franchise at stake here.

-Sal

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