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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - If the Bungie rumor is true, what is MS going to do with the money?

rocketpig on 04 October 2007

This is just based off the rumor so if you want to argue the validity of the rumor, do it elsewhere:


If Bungie truly did buy themselves back from MS, what is MS going to do with the profits from the sale? They could use it to buy another exclusive or possibly even another developer. A few interesting points to think about here:

- According to the rumor, MS retains right of refusal on all Bungie games, meaning Bungie will remain exclusively on the 360.

- MS also keeps the rights to Halo and they can continue whoring out that franchise for all it's worth.

- MS has an undisclosed amount of money from the Bungie heads. This is probably a nine digit number.

With that said, what would you do if you were MS? Would you keep the money to try to get the Xbox project in the black, would you throw that money at a third party exclusive, or would you try to buy another developer?

Personally, I think it would be a huge coup if MS could go after a mid-to-large developer like Bioware and try to snatch them up. It would surely cost them more than the Bungie sale gave them but the rewards would be enormous. That would leave MS with the Halo franchise to develop, a first-rate developer in Bungie working on a new IP, and another top-notch developer now under the MGS banner.

When one thinks about it for a bit, MS could make out like a bandit from this Bungie deal.



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naznatips on 04 October 2007
rocketpig said:
This is just based off the rumor so if you want to argue the validity of the rumor, do it elsewhere:

If Bungie truly did buy themselves back from MS, what is MS going to do with the profits from the sale? They could use it to buy another exclusive or possibly even another developer. A few interesting points to think about here:

- According to the rumor, MS retains right of refusal on all Bungie games, meaning Bungie will remain exclusively on the 360.

- MS also keeps the rights to Halo and they can continue whoring out that franchise for all it's worth.

- MS has an undisclosed amount of money from the Bungie heads. This is probably a nine digit number.

With that said, what would you do if you were MS? Would you keep the money to try to get the Xbox project in the black, would you throw that money at a third party exclusive, or would you try to buy another developer?

Personally, I think it would be a huge coup if MS could go after a mid-to-large developer like Bioware and try to snatch them up. It would surely cost them more than the Bungie sale gave them but the rewards would be enormous. That would leave MS with the Halo franchise to develop, a first-rate developer in Bungie working on a new IP, and another top-notch developer now under the MGS banner.

When one thinks about it for a bit, MS could make out like a bandit from this Bungie deal.

Well there is one mistake with your logic.  MS retaining right of refusal on all Bungie games doens't mean they remain exclusive on the 360.  MS has right of refusal with Mystwalker too and they are making 3 DS games.  Same with Rare who has made 2 themselves.  So, although they will be exclusive to MS in the home console world they may very well make DS games.  

Now, back on topic: If I were MS I would hold onto the money to try and deal with my 4.5 billion dollars of debt on the Xbox 360.  I can't imagine they will do anything different. 



z64dan on 04 October 2007

Maybe they should make a good in-house development team like Nintendo has? Instead of Microsoft Games who mostly make just uh... Golf and Flight Simulator



starcraft on 04 October 2007

That all sounds too good to be true.....but if it happened I would have an instant GAMEGASM!!!!



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rocketpig on 04 October 2007

Yeah, I should have clarified "console only" but that didn't really apply to what I'm talking about here and didn't think it pertinent to the conversation.

Besides, a handheld game is not going to keep even half of Bungie occupied for six months. The majority of the studio will need to be working on something else, something bigger.


BTW, MS owns Rare. They let them make the DS game, probably to promote the Viva Pinata series to the casual public to try to transition them from DS owners to 360 owners.



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ssj12 on 04 October 2007

IF Bungie buys themselves from M$, then M$ can start digging themselves out of their 7 billion dollar hole they have in their game and hardware division (Xbox + Zune loses)



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W29 on 05 October 2007

Microsoft should either purchase Bioware or some other developer in place of Bungie. They should let Bioware make future Halo games if they do acquire Bioware. That would be an excellent replacement.



mrstickball on 05 October 2007

I agree with W29 - I'd just buy a good developer like Bioware, or Epic...

That way I'd have Halo + another solid IP maker.

Hopefully Bungie can now go on and make a new Myst XBLA game for the X360 :)



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kber81 on 05 October 2007
rocketpig said:
This is just based off the rumor so if you want to argue the validity of the rumor, do it elsewhere:

If Bungie truly did buy themselves back from MS, what is MS going to do with the profits from the sale?

They will pump it all in fruitless X360 promotion in Japan...  



SpaceJase on 05 October 2007
rocketpig said:
This is just based off the rumor so if you want to argue the validity of the rumor, do it elsewhere:

If Bungie truly did buy themselves back from MS, what is MS going to do with the profits from the sale? They could use it to buy another exclusive or possibly even another developer. A few interesting points to think about here:

- According to the rumor, MS retains right of refusal on all Bungie games, meaning Bungie will remain exclusively on the 360.

- MS also keeps the rights to Halo and they can continue whoring out that franchise for all it's worth.

- MS has an undisclosed amount of money from the Bungie heads. This is probably a nine digit number.

With that said, what would you do if you were MS? Would you keep the money to try to get the Xbox project in the black, would you throw that money at a third party exclusive, or would you try to buy another developer?

Personally, I think it would be a huge coup if MS could go after a mid-to-large developer like Bioware and try to snatch them up. It would surely cost them more than the Bungie sale gave them but the rewards would be enormous. That would leave MS with the Halo franchise to develop, a first-rate developer in Bungie working on a new IP, and another top-notch developer now under the MGS banner.

When one thinks about it for a bit, MS could make out like a bandit from this Bungie deal.

I know this is how it is worded in the article but I can't see this part being true. What is the point of Bungie buying their name back if they are to remain a second party dev? Might as well just keep the money and carry on as they are if this is the case.

I think it is more likely that the clause will mean that Bungie cannot develop exclusively for another home console. 

Time will tell I suppose.