Bungie and Microsoft Breakup?

If Internet rumors from multiple sources are true, Bungie and Microsoft are headed seperate ways over Bungie's stifled creative freedom and Microsoft's handling of its games.

While gamers are still in the grips of Halo 3, perhaps one of Microsoft’s most anticipated releases ever, rumors are circulating that the studio responsible for the series may soon be leaving parent company Microsoft. According to a number of unconfirmed sources, Bungie is sick of making Halo games and wants to strike out on its own – which Microsoft will allow as long as it keeps rights to Halo.

The rumor started with the most dubious of sources, the friend of a friend. A blog post from Jacob Metcalf appeared on both 8bitjoystick.com and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s reader blogs, reporting through a friend-of-a-friend that Microsoft and Bungie had split on October 1, but wouldn’t announce the move until October 6 for the sake of quarterly results. According to the source, Bungie was irritated by Microsoft’s handling of its games, including everything from marketing to dealing with fans.

But the research didn’t stop there. GameInformer checked with their own “close-to-Bungie” source and got the same story. This time there were more details on the supposed departure: Bungie shareholders managed to buy the studio name back from Microsoft, and besides the Halo licensing stipulation, Microsoft will also get first crack at publishing any of Bungie’s future games.

So far Microsoft PR flacks are pulling the standard ambiguity line. “There’s been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3,” a one representative told GameInformer. If the original source’s facts were straight, we’ll know on October 6 whether this turns out to be an industry-shaking breakup, or merely an Internet farce.