Lets not forget about the mentioned Spawnpoint and FireBird studios, and they bought BigPark. MSFT has been pretty quiet on these things for awhile now.

Who cares ? 343 is not Bungie, you really think you can build a random dev team from scratch and they'll get as talented as Bungie ? No way.

Halo was Bungie, now all that's left is the brand.

Like I said I would have been fine with multi if they had anyone, and I mean ANYONE publish there games except Activision. Activision is a dirty corrupt blight on the industry that's only out for one thing. CASH. And this move honestly makes me wonder if Bungie is saying basically screw the fans and people that helped get us here lets jump on the Activision bandwagon and pump out as much quick cash as possible. Just doesn't seem right. All I know is with the way Bobby and Activision work Bungie better start praying that Activision doesn't try a hostile take over of Bungie. They've done it in the past and I could see them doing it again.

Halo: Reach will still kick ass and it will always be 360 exclusive.

Bungie wanted freedom in 2007 and got it. Now they are going to develop a new title that will be multi-platform. Congratulations Bungie.

It has become obvious that 360 and PS3 are here to stay. And it is becoming more and more obvious that in order for AAA games to be made on modern consoles they have to be multi-platform to provide publishers with the return required from such an upfront, risky investment.

The best development studios can't justify $50-100 million projects for just for one platform. They have to go multi-platform to fund the projects and reap the rewards of their efforts. Expect Insomniac to be next. And it will be a trend that continues until there are no first party studios left.

Anyone that questions Microsoft's ability continue after this, doesn't know anything about Microsoft.

How about you wait until 343 makes a Halo game and then make an informed decision before you cast it to the depths of hell.

You

[  ] did understand my post

[x] did not understand my post

I never said they should buy these studios, I said they could if they wanted to.
Heck, MS offered 43 billion USD for Yahoo. They can buy any developer they want. Financially there is no limit. That's what I was talking about.

Another thing that needs to be mentioned: The customer does not care about 1st or 3rd party exclusives. All they see is "exclusive". That is enough. 3rd party exclusives like Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction (and hopefully soon Alan Wake) did very well and they are exclusive. That is what counts. Nobody cared if they were made by 1st or 3rd party studios.

So the 20 or so guys heading 343 that worked on every Halo game wont know how to make Halo 4? Your dreaming.

Also as mentioned M$ have created other first party studios Firebird studios and Spawnpoint. As well as buying BigPark. M$ have been quietly making their First Party Studios bigger. They have more now than ever before. Add to that Turn 10, LionHead and Rare. M$ are definately keeping an eye on the future.

Troll got his facts can we get back on topic now? What kind of IP does one sign a 10 yr deal for? Some sort of role playing game that could turn into an MMO? Another big universe IP that could have multiple spin offs? Im really shocked that the deal is so long and only pertains to the  one IP.

As Bungie seems to be over with FPS for the moment, I would like to see them developing a new game similar to their Myth: The Fallen Lords. They don't have the IP anymore, but it shouldn't be hard to re-acquire it nowadays.

Duplicate, sorry.