It’s almost like living in the Twilight Zone when the developer behind the biggest titles in Microsoft’s gaming history is no longer an exclusive developer. In fact, it’s downright unimaginable that Bungie themselves even feel as though they’re in a better position with Sony involved than they were with just Microsoft. Of course, some individuals will choose to point to the fact that with Sony, Bungie is developing for two consoles instead of one, but let’s not kid ourselves — Microsoft has deep pockets.
Anyone who has watched Microsoft as a company over the years can agree that if the software giant wanted to dig deep and keep Bungie an exclusive developer for the Xbox 360, they probably could have. Furthermore, they could have turned Bungie into a first-party developer, securing one of the best in the business, and therefore, making their grass just a little bit greener, but instead they didn’t.
It’s no secret that Microsoft needs first-party support. Every year we look around and watch third-party exclusives dieing. The most recent of which was yet another 360-exclusive franchise entitled, Mass Effect developed by BioWare. The company is drowning without much to look forward to internally and I believe most gamers are smart enough to take notice of this as well.
A Bungie employee recently spoke to CVG about this revelation and openly admitted that Bungie is definitely in a better position within the industry developing for Sony than if they weren’t.
“I think Bungie is better poised now to do great things than we ever have been in the history of our studio, just in terms of our infrastructure, our new office, our team are at over 180 employees now, our Activision partnership, the creative control that we have, our freedom, our funding…
“There’s not anything holding us back now,” he said. “It’s up to us to sink or swim and execute our own destiny, really try and bring our next big universe to life.”
Furthermore, Brian Jarrard (man who stated the above), also revealed awhile ago that Bungie may just lead on the PlayStation 3 in the future as well — but nothing is set in stone.
“It’s a little bit too early for us to say which console we’ll lead on. We’re going to exactly figure out what’s the right way to lead into our new universe and what’s the right way to extend it. It’s too early for me to say which console is going to be the first out of the gate.”
Even as far back as February, Bungie had an internal team working on its next project after Reach…you know, the one that will be cross-platform. It goes without saying that this internal team is definitely working with the tech inside the PlayStation 3 and looking at ways to optimize it.
It’s going to be interesting to see what the developer comes up with, but overall, I’m not too concerned with it flopping. Given the history of the team, it should be evident that they’re capable of creating a long-standing franchise in the industry and that’s what we should be looking towards.
