With Halo: Reach finally on store shelves--read our review here--it's time for Bungie Studios to say goodbye to the franchise that helped propel them into into superstardom.
According to Develop, Bungie won't only walk away from the Halo universe, the developer has decided to ditch the franchise's constantly updated, but aging engine in favor of new tech that will power its next intellectual property.
Rather than license a third-party option, like CryEngine 3 or Unreal Engine 3, Bungie has decided to build its own engine from the ground up, presumably to better transition its new IP into the next generation of consoles.
"I think it goes hand-in-hand with our independent spirit," Bungie community lead Brian Jarrard said. "Just like we don't want to develop a game off someone else's IP, we want to push our own technology in the same way. That's going to be our position for the foreseeable future." In late 2007, Bungie and Microsoft announced a deal that would see the developer regain its independence, after being acquired from the console maker on June 19, 2000.
Although rumors swirled around Bungie and its future following an E3 2008 reveal snafu and eventual release of Halo 3: ODST in September 2009, the industry was still surprised to learn that the dev had signed an exclusive ten-year publishing partnership with Activision. Soon afterward, it was revealed that its next franchise would see release across "all platforms."
According to Jarrard, the tech for its next franchise is still in development; however, with Reach in stores, the "full weight" of Bungie's staff has completely shifted to its next venture. Those folks should consider taking a weekend off, sometime.
