Microsoft's acquisition of Bungie occurred on June 19, 2000.
Background[]
On November 30, 1998, Myth II: Soulblighter was released. due to a bug that caused the game to wipe all of the contents of the directory it was installed on instead of just the game, Bungie recalled the 200,000 copies and replaced the defective CDs with new ones, costing the company $800,000.[1]
As a result, in 1999, Peter Tamte, Bungie's then-executive vice president, was brought in to generate cash.[2] Take-Two Interactive took a 19.9% equity stake in Bungie and secured exclusive North American distribution rights to four Bungie titles, including Halo, Oni, and two undisclosed projects. In addition, Take-Two's Rockstar Games obtained rights to publish video game versions of these games.[3]
Due to continued financial difficulties as a result of Myth II's launch, Tampte contacted Ed Fries, head of Microsoft Game Studios, about a possible acquisition. Fries only had two years to put together Xbox's launch portfolio, so he contacted Take-Two and negotiated an agreement with them to gain the rights to the Myth series and Oni, while Microsoft acquired Bungie, the rights to Halo, and Bungie's other games.[2]
With the consent of the entire company, on June 19, 2000, Microsoft announced its acquisition of Bungie,[3] with Halo becoming a launch title for the Xbox.