Transcript from the second public (Bungie.Net) acquisition chat

Posted by Noctavis

Our thanks goes out to Angel, who worked hard to save the text from the brief chats performed by Matt and Max on Bungie.Net last night. She reports this as the exact words of Matt and Max during the periods that either room was squelched.

Matt Soell (head of customer support) - BNAbuford (login: bnabuford) :: The Blind Steppes

[blue line] The room has been silenced; only the voice of Bungie will be heard.
Heh.
Okay....
Moonshade had a question.
MSG the admins with Questions, and I'll go through in order.
Moonshade first, though.
Bloody hell, people. Message one of the other admins, not me.
I can't handle 50 PMs at once.
Moonshade wants to know if the coming soon for Windows and MacOS...
on our web site constitutes a commitment
The answer is that this deal forces us to take another look at all our commitme...
And see what we're really capable of doing, and in what timeframe.
The Halo team has a bunch of new things to think about.
And in true Bungie fashion, they don't want to make any promises...
they can't keep.
When they figure out exactly what the plan is for Mac/Windows Halo...
We will announce it. But right now I have no hard answers.
Next Q is Will MS change bungie server to MSN zone?
That's not the plan. Bnet 1 and 2 will remain the same.
Bnet 3 will be a new server (better, snazzier) but I think still seperate from Zone
Sigh....
Don't PM me anymore. Stop. Please.
Ask an admin your Q, and they'll forward them to me
In order.
What is the Xbox?
Xbox is Microsoft's entry into the videogame console race.
Ala Playstation, dreamcast, etc.
What portion of Bungie employees are in favor of this change?
The vast majority.
Only one person quit outright.
And he was the token Linux geek, so he wasn't exactly unbiased.
People here have had some time to think about it.
They understand why it makes sense.
Next question.
BNA Eric, next Q.
What stops Microsoft infringing on Bungie's independance?
Their ardent desire to keep us around, coupled with the knowledge...
that we are all free to walk if we so choose.
Coupled with some legalese in the contract, I believe.
Next Q is M3? which I assume means Myth III.
Take 2 has the right to do it if they want to. They haven't expressed...
a concrete intention one way or another.
Next:
Halo 3rd party support? (aka total conversions)
Obviously if we ship with editors, TCs should not be a problem.
And shipping with editors has always been a goal, not a guarantee.
But if we ship on platforms that allow easy editing, editors are a good bet.
Did Apple make a counter offer?
No, they did not.
This was not about money: more about opportunity (xbox) and security.
Most of the other companies that offered to buy us out have been bought...
or hit financial difficulty, etc.
When is Halo's release date?
We still don't know.
What experience has Bungie had with Microsoft?
We've been working with them since we became cross-platform, obviously.
Are you a millionaire now?
No, I am not.
If I bought MS stock would I technically own Bungie too?
Maybe a tiny little bit.
What are your opinions on the long line of companies maimed by MS?
I can only say that MS, so far, is doing things they don't normally do...
[blue line] We are the keepers of the sacred words: NI!, Pang!, and
And I can only judge them by my own experiences with them.
I certainly can't apologize for anything they've done.
How will b.net and online communities work without a keyboard?
We still don't know. Part of the challenge is figuring stuff out.
Will you use the opportunity to say Your Mom jokes at Microsoft?
I certainly intend to, at every opportunity.
Who will head the Bungie division, and who will that person report to?
Alex Seropian, as always. He reports to Ed Fries, I think.
Would you maintain b.net for Myth 3?
We're not sure there will ever be a Myth 3 yet. So I can't answer that.
How does this help plans for world domination?
It's all part of the plan.
I gotta get going now...
There will be another chat tomorrow.
Hopefully on a more robust chat protocol
[blue line] The veil of silence has been lifted from this room; you may speak freely now.

Max Hoberman (online director) - Yeroen (login: webmaster) :: Murithemne

[silenced]
Why not commit to games for Mac?
Jones is in charge of Halo, and is only willing to commit to possibilities.
There's still a lot for us to learn, and we don't like making false promises.
As for other games, it's impossible to say what platforms they'll be on.
We made promises when we believed we were being completely honest.
This situation changes the circumstances. At the time we didn't forsee it.
As for MacWorld...
there's a possibility we'll show up there. However, I know that Matt and I intend
to go and support the fan gathering in a big way.
Geez, a lot of questions, few comments.
As for the PS2 option, it's a different situation than Win/Mac
If MS was launching a new PC OS then maybe it'd be the same. The reasons
to not publish for PS2 are obvious. However, the Mac and PC rarely compete.
A few people asked about timing.
We learned about the possibility of this happening just before E3.
Before that we had no clue, though a buyout was always a possibility on the
horizon.
Someone asked why anything has changed if we still control platform choice.
The answer is that we now have the option to develop for a new console.
This is a significant drain on our resources, and we're unwilling to make
platform promises when we don't know we'll be able to deliver.
[unsilenced]

Originally posted June 20, 2000

Updates: Since this transcript, Take Two contracted Mumbo Jumbo to create Myth 3, due out before the end of 2001. Also, although Bungie continues to manage bungie.net, the Myth: TFL server has been down for quite awhile now, and Bungie has been unable to commit the resources to fix it while Halo is still in development. It has been replaced in part by a reverse-engineered compatible server, marius.net.