18,700
edits
Oni: Difference between revisions
added side quotes with details of Bungie deals, to have something on the right, and so I could lighten the load of details in the main text in that section; I don't think that Bungie staff list is up to date...
(moar pictures) |
(added side quotes with details of Bungie deals, to have something on the right, and so I could lighten the load of details in the main text in that section; I don't think that Bungie staff list is up to date...) |
||
| Line 77: | Line 77: | ||
''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=== | ||
{{Quotebox|title=Take-Two 10-K (1999)|width=365px|quote=In November 1999, we acquired 19.9% of the outstanding capital stock of Bungie Software Products Corporation for $5 million, of which $4 million was paid and $1 million is payable in May 2000. Bungie is a leading developer of software games for the PC platform.}} | |||
{{Quotebox|title=Take-Two 10-K (2000)|width=365px|quote=In June 2000, the Company sold its 19.9% equity interest in Bungie Software (“Bungie”) to Microsoft Corporation for approximately $5,000[,000] in cash. The Company did not realize any gain or loss on this transaction. Separately, the Company sold its exclusive Halo publishing and distribution rights to Bungie for $4,000[,000] in cash, a royalty free license to Bungie’s Halo technology in connection with the development of two original products and all right, title and interest to the Myth franchise and the PC and PlayStation(R) 2 game, | |||
Oni. The Company recorded this transaction as net sales of $5,500[,000] after giving effect to the receipt of $9,000[,000] in cash and $5,800[,000] of assets (consisting of $2,800[,000] relating to Oni, $1,500[,000] relating to Myth and $1,500[,000] relating to the license to use Halo game engine technology for two original products), net of $9,300[,000] of assets sold.}} | |||
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. | 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 | 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 would acquire 19.9% of Bungie in exchange for (among other things) the publishing rights to Oni and a PlayStation 2 port of Oni<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>. | ||
This deal didn't seem to change business much for Bungie, | This deal didn't seem to change business much for Bungie, especially since Take-Two was having the PS2 port performed by another studio. But considerably more shocking news was revealed on June 19, 2000, when Bungie announced its acquisition by Microsoft. It turned out that Bungie's monetary woes had not been solved by T2's influx of cash, and so MacSoft founder Peter Tamte had been hired by Bungie to find a buyer for the company. Take-Two acquired (among other things) all rights to the Myth and Oni IPs in exchange for its stake in Bungie and its publishing rights for Halo. T2 valued the IP acquisition of Oni at $2.8 million, and the Myth IP and Halo engine license at $1.5 million each.<ref>[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946581/000112528202003845/b320556.htm SEC 10-K filing for Take-Two Interactive, 10/31/02].</ref><ref>The sale of Bungie to Microsoft has an interesting historical footnote: according to Ed Fries, who was VP of game publishing at Microsoft, Steve Jobs angrily called Steve Ballmer immediately after the Bungie acquisition was announced; sources within Bungie state that Apple themselves had been close to offering to buy Bungie at the time. In order to appease Apple (a business partner of Microsoft) over the loss of a major Mac game developer, a new company was formed to port Windows games to the Mac, named Destineer, and headed up by none other than Peter Tamte of Bungie. Destineer would go on to port Halo to the Mac in 2003. ([http://www.develop-online.net/news/36173/Steve-Jobs-raged-at-Microsoft-over-game-studio-sale], [http://www.develop-online.net/news/36183/Ex-Bungie-dev-Apple-got-close-to-buying-us], [http://www.insidemacgames.com/features/view.php?ID=173])</ref> | ||
The acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft also meant the dissolution of Bungie West as Bungie moved their employees to Redmond, Washington. Some Oni developers stayed with Bungie and went on to work on the Halo series, while others ended up at independent game studios, such as Giant Bite (co-founded by Chu & Evans) and Tyrant Studios (founded by LeBel). | The acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft also meant the dissolution of Bungie West as Bungie moved their employees to Redmond, Washington. Some Oni developers stayed with Bungie and went on to work on the Halo series, while others ended up at independent game studios, such as Giant Bite (co-founded by Chu & Evans) and Tyrant Studios (founded by LeBel). | ||
[[Image:WAP_Cell_Oni_-_Konoko.jpg|thumb|Nobody expected Oni for the cell phone!]] | [[Image:WAP_Cell_Oni_-_Konoko.jpg|thumb|100px|Nobody expected Oni for the cell phone!]] | ||
In October of 2007, Bungie separated from Microsoft and moved from Redmond to the nearby city of Kirkland. | In October of 2007, Bungie separated from Microsoft and moved from Redmond to the nearby city of Kirkland. | ||
| Line 105: | Line 108: | ||
::(laughs) Oni isn't currently one of those projects we're looking at, but one should never say never.<br> We'd be happy to work with the individuals who made Oni.<ref>[http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/trans/4players_hr_sk_interview.html 4players.de interviews Shane Kim and Harold Ryan (translated)].</ref> | ::(laughs) Oni isn't currently one of those projects we're looking at, but one should never say never.<br> We'd be happy to work with the individuals who made Oni.<ref>[http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/trans/4players_hr_sk_interview.html 4players.de interviews Shane Kim and Harold Ryan (translated)].</ref> | ||
One thing is certain: the current Bungie staff has little in common with the Bungie West that produced Oni (there are seven Oni developers<ref>The employees in Oni's credits that [http:// | One thing is certain: the current Bungie staff has little in common with the Bungie West that produced Oni (there are seven Oni developers<ref>The employees in Oni's credits that [http://halo.bungie.net/inside/teamindex.aspx still work] at Bungie are Butcher, Dunn, the McLees, Marty O'Donnell, Staten and Wu. Only Butcher and Wu actually worked at Bungie West.</ref> still working at Bungie as of March 2014). There is probably little sentimental or monetary incentive for Bungie to produce a sequel. Furthermore, it was announced in May 2010 that Bungie was developing [[wikipedia:Destiny_(video_game)|a new IP]], to be published by Activision under a ten-year contract. | ||
However, there are fan projects which may or may not become unofficial "Oni 2"s. | However, there are fan projects which may or may not become unofficial "Oni 2"s. | ||