Will Bungie return to Halo?

As a hardcore Halo fan who has been playing since the beginning, and as an industry insider keeping a close eye on the latest gaming news, one question I get asked a lot is: will Bungie ever return to develop future Halo games?

Why Bungie Had to Leave Halo

Bungie originally created the legendary Halo series, but the studio split from Microsoft in 2007 to become an independent company again. This meant leaving the Halo IP behind with Microsoft because it wasn‘t Bungie‘s property to take with them.

Reports over the years have indicated that Microsoft wanted to lock Bungie into making Halo games forever, but Bungie leadership wanted more creative freedom to develop new worlds beyond Halo‘s universe. For example, in an interview with IGN, former Bungie president Harold Ryan said:

"We have a team that is incredibly excited and committed to push forward into some experiences that sit outside of Halo. We think that the Halo universe is incredibly strong, is home for much of the staff, frankly home creatively all throughout the studio. But we think that we‘re ready to develop and build some other IP."

So Bungie felt constrained only developing Halo repeatedly. Leaving Halo behind gave them a chance to spread their wings. And spread them they have…

Bungie‘s Success After Splitting from Halo

Despite walking away from their most famous franchise, Bungie has thrived spectacularly as an independent studio:

• Created the Destiny franchise which has over 155 million players worldwide as of 2022
• Generated over $3.7 billion in revenue from Destiny and other projects
• Grown to over 900 employees now – far larger than during their Halo days
• Recently acquired by Sony for $3.6 billion – a clear sign of their development strengths

With this level of success nurturing new IP like Destiny rather than just focusing on Halo sequels, it doesn‘t seem likely that Bungie leadership has any regrets about leaving Halo behind.

via GIPHY

The State of the Halo Franchise Without Bungie

After Bungie‘s departure, Microsoft founded 343 Industries in 2007 to take over development of the Halo series. 343 has produced 5 Halo games since then:

Critically, the games have reviewed decently well under 343. However, some players feel recent entries have moved away from what made early Bungie-developed Halos special including weaker multiplayer experiences.

Meanwhile Halo Infinite, 343‘s latest attempt to reboot the franchise, has struggled to maintain a strong player base after issues with lack of content updates, cheaters ruining matches, and predatory microtransactions.

Halo once reigned near the top of console shooter popularity, but has continued fading from prominence. This begs the question – could a Bungie-developed return help revive Halo‘s former glory?

Will Microsoft Ever Hand Back the Keys?

Even if Bungie wanted to return to working on the Halo series, they legally cannot develop new Halo games without Microsoft‘s approval since Microsoft owns the intellectual property.

And with Xbox continuing to heavily invest in expanding the Halo transmedia universe – with movies, TV shows and books – it seems unlikely Microsoft would hand back their most famous Xbox console exclusive IP.

via GIPHY

While a full Bungie return seems a pipe dream for most Halo fans, rumors indicate Bungie may still collaborate with 343 on smaller projects. But Xbox letting the Destiny developers once again take full creative control over Master Chief‘s journey? Don‘t count on it.

The Bottom Line

Bungie seems happier than ever pursuing their own ideas rather than just building more Halo sequels. And Halo remains too important to Microsoft‘s success for them to hand back the reins.

So while I‘ll always have a glimmer of hope to see a truly epic Bungie-developed Halo game once more, the unfortunate reality is that likely won‘t ever happen. But hey, an obsessed Halo fan can still dream, right?

Let me know what you think – should Bungie give Halo another shot or let 343 chart the course into the future?