Bungie Studios departing from Microsoft?

If what's been floating around the rumor mill is true, the creator of the massively popular Xbox series Halo, Bungie, is splitting from its parent company Microsoft Game Studios seven years after the two companies formed their union.

The original news came from one of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s blogs, which cited “a friend who has someone close that works at Bungie.” However, several other sites now allege to have contacted various Bungie insiders who are giving the rumor some merit. Apparently, Bungie will become an independent studio and may continue to work for Microsoft as well as create games for other platforms, but Microsoft will get to keep all the rights to the ‘Halo’ franchise.

The reasons cited for the split were Microsoft’s expectation that Bungie devotes itself solely to making Halo games and Bungie’s frustration at Microsoft’s interference in its business. The software giant did not confirm nor deny the rumors saying:

“There’s been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3.”
Whether the rumors are true or not remains to be seen. We will have to wait for at least one of the two parties to come out with an official statement and clear this matter up.