This wouldn't surprise me at all, Halo pretty much made the Xbox brand

While I'm sure Bungie and Halo 2 had an impact on Xbox LIVE, anyone involved in the beta could see the value of the service and how it was set to work.

Not to mention, MechAssault did everything Halo 2 much of what did, before Halo 2 did it. What Bungie pushed with Halo 2 on the system, more than anything else, was data mining and using that data. They either used the data to match gamers, or they used the data to let gamers know their performance levels.

I don't think Bungie had much to do with the core service, though they may have had a bit to do with the evolution of the system.

Hey.. im not complaining.