For millions of gamers across the world in the early 2000s, Bungie was synonymous with Halo. The “killer app” (as it was referred to back in the day) launched the original Xbox from an inexperienced upstart to PlayStation’s primary console war contender. Microsoft was so sure of its appeal, it bought Bungie in 2000 in order to launch Halo: Combat Evolved on their new console. But Sony owns Bungie now — so does that mean the company owns Master Chief too?
Is Halo Coming to PlayStation?
With all certainly, we can answer this with a resounding and disappointing “no“. Sony doesn’t own the rights to Halo; Microsoft does. So even though Bungie is now under the Sony umbrella, Halo will not be coming to the PlayStation.
When Bungie split from Microsoft in 2007, it lost the Halo franchise in the divorce, so to speak. That’s not to say the split wasn’t an amicable one, of course. Bungie continued to develop series games for Microsoft until 2010. After splitting off into Bungie, LLC, the studio went on to develop Halo 3: ODST and the critically acclaimed Halo: Reach. From then on, 343 Industries became the primary developer of the franchise, with its latest installment Halo: Infinite released in November 2021.
So while the prospect of Halo never coming to a Sony console may be disappointing to some people, there’s lot to look forward to with this acquisition. Coming off the success of Destiny and Destiny 2, Bungie has proven it can still perform without relying on the classic series. Bungie has also stated it will continue to support Destiny 2 across all platforms. Who’s to say what the developers might have in store for the PS5 in the years to come?
So what do you think Bungie under Sony has up its sleeve? In this writer’s opinion, I hope to see an updated Marathon Trilogy reboot. The spiritual precursor to Halo spent many hours pushing my old pizza-box Power Mac 6100 to it’s limit. Going back even further, a little-but-fondly remembered shooter called Pathways Into Darkness was pushed out by the young studio. In this age of reboots and remasters, are we more likely to see a revisit to an old franchise? Or perhaps Bungie and Sony have something else in store for us?
We are certainly living in interesting times.
