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Oni: Difference between revisions
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''Oni and the makers of Oni went their separate ways. First we look at the direction Bungie took, then we come back to the game.''<br> | ''Oni and the makers of Oni went their separate ways. First we look at the direction Bungie took, then we come back to the game.''<br> | ||
===Bungie=== | ===Bungie=== | ||
Bungie had seemed to enjoy great success as an independent publisher ever since they released [[wikipedia:Pathways into Darkness|Pathways into Darkness]] in 1993. However, Bungie was initially a Macintosh developer, and the Mac's limited market share meant that their sales never went above 200,000 units<ref>"200,000 units" figure taken from Dean Takahashi's book "Opening the Xbox", which also provided some of the details for the Apple story given below.</ref>, even after releasing [[wikipedia:Marathon Trilogy|Marathon 2]] for both Mac and Windows. Bungie also took advantage of their indie status to reject the strict deadlines which are normally enforced by video game publishers, refusing to release their games until they were completely finished. | Bungie had seemed to enjoy great success as an independent publisher ever since they released [[wikipedia:Pathways into Darkness|Pathways into Darkness]] in 1993. However, Bungie was initially a Macintosh developer, and the Mac's limited market share meant that their sales never went above 200,000 units<ref>"200,000 units" figure taken from [http://books.google.com/books?ei=A1mlT672KIG29QSbz-HyDQ&id=sJi2AAAAIAAJ&dq=Opening+the+xbox&q=200%2C000#search_anchor page 238] of Dean Takahashi's book "Opening the Xbox", which also provided some of the details for the Apple story given below.</ref>, even after releasing [[wikipedia:Marathon Trilogy|Marathon 2]] for both Mac and Windows. Bungie also took advantage of their indie status to reject the strict deadlines which are normally enforced by video game publishers, refusing to release their games until they were completely finished. | ||
It is believed that Bungie began suffering from a shortage of cash around 1998 when the Myth II uninstaller bug was discovered and cost them at least $1 million to correct<ref>See Bungie's 20th Anniversary documentary, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtG6--4r_qk O Brave New World]'', 6 minute mark.</ref>. This might have been difficult to absorb for a studio not accustomed to a disciplined release schedule. The next game to release after Myth II was to be Oni in 1999, but as Oni's release date began to slide more and more, it became clear that Bungie had underestimated the time required to finish the game by more than usual. In the meantime, Bungie was bankrolling two studios instead of one. Thus, the decision was made to partner with Take Two Interactive; on August 13, 1999, it was announced that Take Two had acquired 19.9% of Bungie's shares in exchange for (1) payments to Bungie of $4 million now and $1 million the next year, (2) the North America publishing rights to Oni, Myth, and two additional future titles for the PC, and (3) publishing rights for a PlayStation 2 port of Oni (and console versions of future, unannounced Bungie games)<ref>[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946581/0000891554-00-000145.txt SEC 10-K filing for Take Two Interactive, 10/31/99].</ref>. | It is believed that Bungie began suffering from a shortage of cash around 1998 when the Myth II uninstaller bug was discovered and cost them at least $1 million to correct<ref>See Bungie's 20th Anniversary documentary, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtG6--4r_qk O Brave New World]'', 6 minute mark.</ref>. This might have been difficult to absorb for a studio not accustomed to a disciplined release schedule. The next game to release after Myth II was to be Oni in 1999, but as Oni's release date began to slide more and more, it became clear that Bungie had underestimated the time required to finish the game by more than usual. In the meantime, Bungie was bankrolling two studios instead of one. Thus, the decision was made to partner with Take Two Interactive; on August 13, 1999, it was announced that Take Two had acquired 19.9% of Bungie's shares in exchange for (1) payments to Bungie of $4 million now and $1 million the next year, (2) the North America publishing rights to Oni, Myth, and two additional future titles for the PC, and (3) publishing rights for a PlayStation 2 port of Oni (and console versions of future, unannounced Bungie games)<ref>[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946581/0000891554-00-000145.txt SEC 10-K filing for Take Two Interactive, 10/31/99].</ref>. | ||