An Xbox Fan’s Ode to Bungie

ign.com:

The year 2022 – to be henceforth known as The Year Where Everything Got Consolidated – is only a month old and already the video game industry has seen three major acquisitions totaling $85 billion. The latest of those sees first-person shooter powerhouse Bungie joining Sony and PlayStation Studios in a $3.6 billion move. And while both Bungie and Sony say that the studio will continue to be a multiplatform developer, that may only end up proving true for Destiny, which continues to enjoy a thriving community and long-term support. Bungie has other projects in the works, and even as Bungie says those will remain multiplatform games, now that Bungie is with Sony, that could change sooner or later.

Regardless of whether it does or doesn’t, though, this move marks, in spirit at least, the end of an era for Xbox fans. Bungie has joined PlayStation, which is the video game equivalent of Red Sox great Wade Boggs signing with the Yankees. And as an Xbox fan who has covered the Microsoft console beat for nearly 20 years, I want to look back at what Bungie has meant for the Xbox platform and community.

Quite simply, Xbox probably wouldn’t be here today, buying Bethesda and dozens of other studios while celebrating its 20th anniversary, if it wasn’t for Bungie. As the recent six-part Xbox documentary Power On details, Microsoft’s entry into the home console market was a difficult, expensive, and mentally taxing endeavor in which success was not assured while up against entrenched powerhouses Nintendo and Sony. The unconnected consoles of the turn of the century needed ‘killer apps’ to bring people into their ecosystems, and if it wasn’t for Bungie’s industry-changing shooter Halo: Combat Evolved (and yes, there is no hyperbole in