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Oni: Difference between revisions
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→Buyout: this link to a page of Takahashi's book was killed at some point, but thankfully *someone* archived it ;-)
(more specificity on release dates – we can still consider Jan. 29 to be Oni's "birthday", but it's also more complicated than that, so I qualified it with "in the U.S."; added some new citations; added dates to all refs that can be dated) |
m (→Buyout: this link to a page of Takahashi's book was killed at some point, but thankfully *someone* archived it ;-)) |
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{{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, | {{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."}} | 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 [[wp:Pathways into Darkness|Pathways into Darkness]] in 1993. However, Bungie was initially a Macintosh developer, and even their domination of the Mac's small game industry meant limited success in real financial terms<ref>Dean Takahashi's book "Opening the Xbox" claims on [https://books.google.com/books?ei=A1mlT672KIG29QSbz-HyDQ&id=sJi2AAAAIAAJ&dq=Opening+the+xbox&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Bungie page 238] that a Bungie game never sold more than 200,000 units, but that number may be based on a misunderstanding, because the Chicago Reader article below talks about an ''initial shipment'' of Myth II numbering 200,000 units.</ref> (though Bungie also began releasing games for Windows starting with Marathon 2). Bungie took advantage of their indie status to avoid the strict deadlines which are normally enforced by video game publishers, refusing to release their games until they were totally satisfied with them. | Bungie had seemed to enjoy great success as an independent publisher ever since they released [[wp:Pathways into Darkness|Pathways into Darkness]] in 1993. However, Bungie was initially a Macintosh developer, and even their domination of the Mac's small game industry meant limited success in real financial terms<ref>Dean Takahashi's book "Opening the Xbox" claims on [https://web.archive.org/web/20210324173502/https://books.google.com/books?ei=A1mlT672KIG29QSbz-HyDQ&id=sJi2AAAAIAAJ&dq=Opening+the+xbox&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Bungie page 238] that a Bungie game never sold more than 200,000 units, but that number may be based on a misunderstanding, because the Chicago Reader article below talks about an ''initial shipment'' of Myth II numbering 200,000 units.</ref> (though Bungie also began releasing games for Windows starting with Marathon 2). Bungie took advantage of their indie status to avoid the strict deadlines which are normally enforced by video game publishers, refusing to release their games until they were totally satisfied with them. | ||
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 $800,000 to correct.<ref>[https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/monsters-in-a-box/ Chicago Reader, "Monsters in a Box", Mar. 23, 2000].</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 the publishing rights to Oni and the upcoming Halo.<ref>[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946581/0000891554-00-000145.txt SEC 10-K filing for Take-Two Interactive, Oct. 31, 1999].</ref> Take-Two also began work on a port of Oni for the upcoming PlayStation 2 console. | 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 $800,000 to correct.<ref>[https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/monsters-in-a-box/ Chicago Reader, "Monsters in a Box", Mar. 23, 2000].</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 the publishing rights to Oni and the upcoming Halo.<ref>[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946581/0000891554-00-000145.txt SEC 10-K filing for Take-Two Interactive, Oct. 31, 1999].</ref> Take-Two also began work on a port of Oni for the upcoming PlayStation 2 console. | ||