While rumors have been swirling for a couple of weeks now, Bungie Studios and Microsoft made it official today: Bungie is now an independent entity, free from the grasp of Bill Gates and friends. Well, sort of...



Bungie is now a "privately held independent company, Bungie, LLC, in which Microsoft will hold a minority equity interest." Microsoft will retain the Halo intellectual property rights, and first right of refusal of publication of any future Bungie creations. In exchange, the people at Bungie are now free to let their creative juices flow, work on projects on which they want to work, and work at a pace with which they are most comfortable.

All in all, it sounds like a everybody wins (particularly the gamers of the world) situation.

Bungie Press Release

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