Remember Marathon? The great first-person-shooter that originated on the Mac and eventually inspired the amazingly-popular Halo series?
I don’t. I wasn’t a Mac user at the time. But I hear good things.
Anyway, the game was created by Bungie Software, a company that produced titles for the Mac prior to being gobbled up by Microsoft, who needed some talent to jump-start development for its budding Xbox console (hello Halo). Most of you already know this, so let’s get in to the good stuff:
Bungie announced today that it had separated itself from its Redmond overlords. Via Peter Cohen at Macworld:
Bungie Studios - now renamed Bungie LLC - became a privately held independent company, effective Oct. 1, 2007. Microsoft retains a minority equity interest in the new business, which will continue to focus on developing games for Microsoft platforms, according to Harold Ryan, Bungie's studio head.
Does that last bit mean Mac-focused development is still a no-no? Macworld does more of my work for me, in an interview with Brian Jarrard, franchising director at Bungie:
“But sure, now that we're branching of and controlling our destiny, that puts us in a position where we could put ourselves back on the [Mac] platform definitively again,” said Jarrard.
Aside from his poor grammar, his words bring a glimmer of hope to Mac users everywhere, who were crushed when Microsoft drove up in its fancy car and slicked-back hair and swooped Bungie away in 2000.
Check out Macworld’s news story and their follow-up interview/analysis for more details on the split.
