Microsoft and Halo creators split

Microsoft announced on Friday that the developer of its record-breaking Halo 3 game was to become an independent company.

Microsoft said its publishing relationship with Bungie for Halo would continue and it would keep an equity interest in the Seattle company that it bought in 2000.

“You will not see Halo on any platform other than on Microsoft’s,” Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Game Studios, told the Financial Times in a conference call.

Harold Ryan, studio head of Bungie, said: “This is a strong long-term relationship. We’re still excited about developing for Microsoft. At this point in time, Microsoft and the Xbox 360 are the best publisher and platform.”

Microsoft keeps Halo as its intellectual property and has an agreement to publish future properties developed by Bungie. But the loosening of ties with the studio responsible for its biggest success is a blow for the software group. It follows the breaking of a link last month with Liverpool-based Bizarre Creations, developer of an exclusive launch title for the Xbox 360, Project Gotham Racing.

Microsoft kept the brand but Activision, a third-party publisher, bought the studio and plans to develop a rival racing game with Bizarre that could be adopted by Sony and Nintendo.

Mr Ryan said the split with Microsoft “has a lot to do with going back to the roots of Bungie and being an independent developer – for creatives, it’s about wanting to feel free”. Microsoft announced this week that Halo 3 achieved $300m in global sales in its first week after its September 25 launch. Sales worth $170m in the first 24 hours made it the biggest launch in video-game history. The game also boosted the Xbox 360 console – Microsoft reported sales tripled compared with the weekly average before Halo’s launch.

Bungie revealed little about its plans. The only project that has been announced is a new interactive series set in the Halo universe. It is being worked on in partnership with Peter Jackson, the film director.