Josh Smith Online

You can’t get around any gaming news site or forum today without running across headlines speculating that Bungie and Microsoft are caling it quits. I have seen headlines ranging from the factual, “RUMOR TIME: Bungie Leaving MS” to the Emo, ” OMG Bungie doesn’t heart MS O Nooes!1!!!” but one thing is clear, something is going on between these domestic partners. When I first saw the story on Kotaku yesterday I was dismissive due to the apparent, “my brother’s uncle’s girlfriend’s toddler works at Bungie” nature of the rumor. However numerous other sites have been giving the rumor coverage which coupled with Microsoft’s and for now Bungie’s PR rep’s statement of, “There’s been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3.”, the rumor gets more intersting.

To fuel the speculation it has been 7 years since the purchase of Bungie by Microsoft which likely means that retention bonuses have been paid off for key employees. This would mean allowing the “special sauce” of Bungie to leave for greener pastures and fresher IPs without any drawbacks to the employee.

Further evidence comes in from Seattle locals who have seen the locks at Bungie’s studios being changed as of last nite.

Other reports have surfaced which claim Bungie employees email addresses have been removed from Microsoft’s internal global email address list.

As a gamer my biggest concern is what happens to the Halo franchise, Halo 3 downloadable content, game types and the talented team behind the Halo franchise.

Here’s a rumor roundup:

Xbox360Fanboy

Game Informer

Kotaku

If I find out anything else I will keep you updated.

Tags: Breakup | Halo | Halo 3 | Microsoft | Rumor