Microsoft's Phil Spencer on Bungie's missing E3 announcement

by Christopher Grant { Jul 16th 2008 at 1:26AM }

We had a chance to speak with newly appointed general manager of Microsoft Game Studios Phil Spencer earlier this afternoon but there's good news and bad news. The bad news: We spoke with him just a couple hours before Bungie announced that the very same Microsoft Game Studios "changed" plans to announce the game this week. The good news: We just so happened to ask Spencer about the lack of a Bungie announcement in Microsoft's press conference (as expected) and the publishing relationship with Bungie.

Spencer: "Our relationship with Bungie was always about a triple-A creative studio building content for our platform, and our working relationship brought about Halo 1, Halo 2, Halo 3 – which I think are great games. If that's the core of the relationship, creative people building content for our platforms, I don't think the relationship has changed. We have a relationship with a very talented studio who wants to create games for Xbox.

Joystiq: Speaking of Bungie, there wasn't any mention of Halo games or Halo projects during the presentation yesterday and there wasn't any mention of Bungie or Bungie working on any other projects. Bungie has been teasing something on their website for the last couple weeks, and it seems like they're ready to announce it but they're doing it independently of Microsoft. Is that indicative of any kind of change in that relationship – that they wouldn't have that game announced at the E3 conference?

Spencer: We focused the E3 event on games that are coming this holiday, from a first-party perspective. If you look at the games we talked about in the briefing, the games that you will see – Banjo, Viva Pinata, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Lips, Scene It – these are all games that you're going to see this fall. That was the decision we made – we did the same thing last year, if you'll remember – to try and really introduce people to the games as they come towards completion, we'll show them what we have and what is coming. The relationship to Bungie and the projects that we're working on together – we don't have anything to announce today – but it's in our plans.

it's not clear if Spencer is saying that whatever project Bungie is working on wouldn't have been available this year (rumors be damned) and that explains its absence from E3. We'll publish the rest of the interview as soon as we're done transcribing it.

Tags: BreakingNews, Bungie, E3-2008, Halo, Phil-Spencer

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

MarkHawk @ Jul 16th 2008 1:29AM

Well that sucks, but what are you going to do...

NESv1 @ Jul 16th 2008 1:31AM

But, what does it all mean?! O_O

DangerMouse @ Jul 16th 2008 1:34AM

Ahh, now it all makes sense...

:/

jake18oly (XBL,PSN: RSXtypeSfan) @ Jul 16th 2008 1:34AM

So I guess that pretty much confirms that Microsoft is publishing the new Bungie game and that it isn't coming until later next year or so.

Vinc333 @ Jul 16th 2008 1:37AM

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=23508986&viewreplies=true#end

Look at this Joystiq

IMPORTANT STUFF!

Obie @ Jul 16th 2008 1:50AM

Bungie.net forums? No, thanks. I rather lock myself in 4chan!

theturtle363 @ Jul 16th 2008 1:51AM

ah frak

Vinc333 @ Jul 16th 2008 1:52AM

Marty Odonnell POSTED! so it IS important... and he's still on this thread

LordPaul @ Jul 16th 2008 2:08AM

I just wasted 20 minutes of my life.
Thanks!
I learned nothing except that fanboys are pretty creepy.

Obie @ Jul 16th 2008 2:11AM

@LordPaul: Yeah, I mean grab all those moronic Halo bozos on Xbox live, now give them a forum while their keyboard is on capslock. The horror.

Anticrawl @ Jul 16th 2008 2:41AM

Thanks for reminding me, I haven't been to 4chan in a while.

zeldazeppelin @ Jul 16th 2008 3:03AM

ok wow the bungie fanboys on that forum are really creepy and kinda strange

splitmetal @ Jul 16th 2008 3:30AM

brain ...just ow.

Duke @ Jul 16th 2008 10:33AM

That thread was so totally important to the guy that started it. Too bad he had nothing interesting to say for the rest of the world.

Jomolungma @ Jul 16th 2008 1:37AM

Don't they speak to each other? Unless this was literally a last second change, how did Bungie not know that MSFT was pulling the announce? Or, on the flip side, could MSFT possibly have not known that Bungie wanted to announce something at E3? Seems like pretty crappy communication - might not bode well for the long term.

Fosssil @ Jul 16th 2008 1:51AM

The thing is, it probably was a last second decision. Anyone who has even a slightly objective view of E3 and isn't blinded by fanboyism can see that Microsoft had the best conference, even without a Bungie announcement. They probably decided it wasn't necessary to make this revelation now, because E3 from a PR standpoint was already a success for them. From a business perspective it makes sense to me -- keep the focus on the games that will make you money this year, and hold onto your wildcard announcement until you really need to steal the thunder from your competitors.

That reasoning and logic aside, it is *just* like Microsoft to pull some bullshit like this.

why not the LS2LS7? @ Jul 16th 2008 1:56AM

Yeah. MS showed a bunch of stuff we'd seen before and new games that aren't even exclusive. Yeah, they really tore E3 up.

Alan Wake? Nope.
Forza? Nope.
Functioning new dash demoed to public? Nope.
new Bungie stuff? Nope.
Lips? Yep.

They didn't have a great E3. It's not even entirely clear they had the best E3 of the 3.

Fosssil @ Jul 16th 2008 2:11AM

I didn't mean to imply that they had a great E3; far from it actually. Frankly, I'm disappointed by all 3 companies' efforts this year -- everyone was lackluster.

But I still think that Microsoft's conference had the most substance. Nintendo's was thoroughly underwhelming in nearly every aspect, and, aside from some stuff on Resistance 2 and a God of War 3 trailer, Sony's really wasn't anything special.

Microsoft had Gears 2, Banjo-Kazooie, both Rock Band and Guitar Hero, RE5, Fable 2, Fallout 3, the dashboard updates, the Netflix deal, and of course that little announcement regarding FFXIII. I'm not saying their conference was the greatest in the history of E3, but point for point they just had more "stuff" than the other two companies.

why not the LS2LS7? @ Jul 16th 2008 2:50AM

I agree with you on the list of what they announced.

Gears of War 2 and Fable 2, which we knew were coming already (although Fable 2 got dated).
Banjo-Kazooie, which we knew were coming.
The rest of the games are all cross-platform games. RE5, RB2, GH, Fallout 3, etc. Even FFXIII (which could be considered somewhat of a coup). Sony could have demoed them too, they might as well have, because it'll be on their platform too. And Wii will have GH and RB2 also and probably sell more than 360 & PS3 put together.
As to the dashboard, it would be interesting, if they had really shown it working. They showed essentially mockups on stage. They showed a bit more in private showings.

MS showed almost nothing new, and were lacking a lot of things that should have been coming, like Alan Wake.

It wasn't impressive at all. I guess I should be impressed they could put together a bunch of not very significant things like this and put it together so it leaves people with a good impression. MS has done a poor job of this in the past (think of Peter Moore sucking it up at GH3) and so this keynote does represent an advance on that front.

Tiptup300 @ Jul 16th 2008 3:20AM

Funny thing is, MS's E3 conference would have been 80% more awesome if 80% of it already wasn't leaked. :P

waves @ Jul 17th 2008 8:57PM

You can put down MS's event all you like, but I notice you aren't talking about Sony's or Nintendo's.

Microsoft definitely had the most newsworthy announcements. Big changes to the dashboard indicating a more focused approach (regardless of how good you think it is), the netflix announcement, the primetime games, the first (?) real gameplay footage of Fallout 3, new info on RE5 and Rock Band (even though these are multiplat titles, MS still broke info at their event, robbing Sony of the chance to do so). And of course the megaton that was FFXIII. You can downplay that all you want, it had people's heads exploding all over the internet.

Sony's event didn't have a lot of red meat. And Nintendo's, although it went over very poorly with the hard core gamers (really, what were you guys expecting?), stayed consistent with their winning strategy of tailoring their E3 event to big media, not fanboys and game blogs.

Baligouxji @ Jul 16th 2008 1:44AM

I don't see why any one should be upset about this. It's not big deal, we'll find out eventually, they probably just don't want to screw all the Gears hype over with big Halo news. There was a time when I thought the Xbox was a one trick pony with Halo. Now, as a 360 owner, I can see that is totally not the case. I want Microsoft to build up more franchises, exclusive ones. I for one am really happy they're keeping something in reserve. And when you compare this to sony, who has to draw on games/applications that have no release dates set, no in-game footage, and rely on crazy promises (does any one really think 256 players figure will be legit?) I'm glad.

Dirk Dorkelson @ Jul 16th 2008 1:44AM

Ah, but Resident Evil 5 was in the briefing and it's not coming out until March.

Obie @ Jul 16th 2008 1:47AM

Correcto-mundo!

theturtle363 @ Jul 16th 2008 1:52AM

OH SNAP. THE PLOT THICKENS!

Fosssil @ Jul 16th 2008 1:55AM

I was going to make the same argument and also mention FFXIII not even having a target release date yet and being the key announcement, but neither of those games are being published by Microsoft. The quote clearly says "first-party perspective", and Bungie could technically still be considered a first-party (just like Rare) because they still have a publishing agreement with M$.

Dirk Dorkelson @ Jul 16th 2008 2:39AM

Ah yeah, good point. Guess we'll find out what it is soon enough.

Ratfoot @ Jul 16th 2008 1:44AM

I still say this is a conspiracy to hype this game up even more.

Obie @ Jul 16th 2008 1:48AM

Lemme go Oliver Stone here:

Bungie wanted to announce a new non-Halo game.
M$ from behind the grassy knoll said: "HELL no make more Haloz!"

Back...and to the left....back...and to the left.

ThePerfectCompanion @ Jul 16th 2008 1:55AM

I'm not all upset about this and I really think its a great move on MS part...

I mean whatever this "Special Code Red Level 1" Secret Project that Bungie is working on obviously means a lot for MS and is another huge thing they have in the works for us.

They already wowed us and won E3 this year. Might as well save their armor for next year..

Hell you guys realize we didn't even see Alan Wake!? And that for me was the main reason for tuning in.

Yet strangely enough I'm completely okay with the fact that we didn't even get a teaser trailer regarding the game.

MS isn't doing anything out of the ordinary here...

deaftly @ Jul 16th 2008 2:00AM

Obviously Bungie is planning to finally release Super Mario Bros 4. Bout fucking time.

Jerk Face @ Jul 16th 2008 2:15AM

Now with more Master Chief!

theturtle363 @ Jul 16th 2008 2:25AM

Well this E3's shaping up to be pretty lackluster

Todd @ Jul 16th 2008 2:27AM

I dont get why everyone thinks MS had such a great presentation this year. sony announced more exclusive games. All MS announced was a shitty looking dashboard thats a ripoff of the wii/ps3 and the release of FF13 which is not an exclusive.

please tell me how they won? nobody won this year. all the 360 and ps3 did was announce things to make them both more similar. Sony had more exclusives to announce though.

Both were disappointing.

why not the LS2LS7? @ Jul 16th 2008 2:57AM

That sums it up pretty well. Mostly Sony and MS showed how similar their games lineups will be in the coming year. Each showed a few exclusives, and MS' case it was a lot of stuff we've seen before.

I'd have loved to see more of the new MS' dash (which is awfully derivative), but we didn't see it. And of course, Sony showed even less of Home at E8 2008 than they did at E3 2007! (none by my count)

IIIIlll @ Jul 16th 2008 3:10AM

KEEP IT CLEAN

m4xn00b @ Jul 16th 2008 3:24AM

!!!!

m4xn00b @ Jul 16th 2008 3:28AM

hey, my reply just got deleted....

Lametastic @ Jul 16th 2008 3:46AM

Frankie?!

thebig L @ Jul 16th 2008 3:18AM

He's just covering for them. The message they put up is a fake. Bungie said it themselves.

"KEEP IT CLEAN"
"THERE WILL BE DELAYS"

Ahmedz @ Jul 16th 2008 4:43AM

weeewooweewooo
update
update

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/07/16/microsoft-confirms-bungie-is-developing-new-halo/

Mario @ Jul 16th 2008 4:53AM

The pulling of the announcement has generated more publicity than if they had gone ahead with it. An announcement of some new Halo property will not impact the sales of the other products. Why not mention it now rather than a month from now? Argh. I'm not thinking about the other xbox games. Except for Bionic Commando. Maybe the point is to get the press to focus more attention on the other games.

Ghostbuddy @ Jul 16th 2008 5:44AM

"Anyone who has even a slightly objective view of E3 and isn't blinded by fanboyism can see that Microsoft had the best conference, even without a Bungie announcement. "

Are you kidding me? I don't even own a ps3 or Wii, and don't plan to for a long time ( I didn't any way). But Sony clearly had the best performance. All three developers conferences sucked hard though. Nintendos being the runt of the litter. They (sony) atleast announced God of War 3, and showed of that MAG game.

All Microsoft showed off at E3 this year, is how off their game they are. And how the majority of them are off on cloud nine.

Heres the deal, most casual gamers don't care about e3. They spend small amounts of time and money with games. By defintion less then 3 hours a week. They are not going to watch an hour and a half of live footage of a conference. Don't get me wrong, make and pimp as many casual games as you like. But don't announce them (never mind spend half the conference on them) in a conference being watched by thousands of core gamers. And hundreds of casual gamers.

Microsoft also spent too much time with multi-platform games. These conferences have always been about making your console look like a better value then the competitors. Multi-platform game footage I would of seen up on game media sites anyways, is not nessary.

I mean, they announce a multi-platform game that by now is clearly not coming in 2008 (FF13). But they won't announce an exclusive? To an outsider looking in, who doesn't own a 360 it looks like they are playing catch up when thats their only relevent game announcement.

This guy says, "Thats what we did last year", as if it justifies this? As if last year was in any way good, or a benefit to Microsoft, or hell even passable by anyones standards. Because I could swear its regarded as the worst conference this generation. I could swear, the backlash was EVERY single gaming media site creating, and spreading the idea the ps3s 2008 lineup wipes the floor with the 360s. Before having concrete details on either lineup.

I could swear the 360s software tie-in is actually lower then a year ago. And I could swear the monthly 360 sales is lower now then last year. For the sole fact you lost a lot of consumer trust for holding off on announcements.

I could swear, Microsofts E3 in 2007 was a major part in Microsoft losing steam.

If I was a core gamer, getting ready to buy my first or second next gen system, or if I had the other two already. I would of bought a 360 in 2006 after e3, but I wouldn't even consider buying one now.

Not looking like the console has a lot of value. Thats what analysts are saying. Thats what retailers are saying. And thats what core gamers are reading every other week. And this was your chance to turn things around. Spoiler: You didn't.

Guess what, your going to go through another year of " The 360s lineup sucks". And in the mean time your going to continue to lose marketshare.

I don't think you understand Microsoft. If Gears of War 2 fails, or gets delayed, sony is GURANTEED second. If you don't announce atleast 2 blockbuster 2009 games before this holiday season, you are guranteed second.

This is no joke. Even if your lineup had as much games with hype behind them as sonys going into 2009, they would have an advantage over you.

Regardless of what, or when you announce the games that will litterally make or break your brand, It needs to be said it won't have as much impact as if you made the announcement at the conference.

Lets be honest, as a 360fanboy,your not likely to get second place. And too be honest, lately I don't think you deserve it.

Seriously though. If you call Bungie on the last mintue one more time.. Im going to go ape shit.

Last time you call them to tell them you changed the deal, and Legendary won't be free ever. Now you call them to say we aren't announcing your game.

Solid Chief @ Jul 16th 2008 7:28AM

tl;dr

klyph @ Jul 16th 2008 8:02AM

I'm gonna put this in caps so maybe some of you will get it: E3 DOES NOT DECIDE WHO WILL BUY WHAT GAME SYSTEM!!!! The vast majority of those who look at news coming from E3 already HAVE what system they want, and are just looking for flame bait! HARDCORE gamers look at E3 news, not casuals, and HARDCORE gamers already know what side of the fence they are on. Its just like politics. People already know how they want to vote, they just listen to debates and the news to have something to argue about. MS showed games that will come out BEFORE next E3, with the exception of FFXIII. Nintendo showed games that will come out BEFORE next E3. Sony showed off mostly games that WILL NOT come out before next E3, because Sony more than the other two needs to build HYPE because they are losing at the moment, and whether you want to admit it or not, they have a weaker lineup this holiday season than 360. SO did Sony win the conference "war"? Yep!!! But that don't mean squat, and you guys know it.

nick @ Jul 16th 2008 10:31AM

If I had to guess why, either Microsoft wants to announce this one at another event this year (or) the game simply will not be ready this year, and they'd like to announce it during the year of release.

But that's just speculation on my part.

Binary Daoist @ Jul 16th 2008 10:56AM

A countdown clock that led to an apology and nothing else... Somebody screwed the pooch and should be fired. I'm sure whatever they are working on is going to totally kick ass but to mount excitement with a countdown clock is downright incompetent; and there is no substitute for competence. Pull yourself together Bungie!

Snowblind @ Jul 16th 2008 5:22PM

I agree with this decision, to an extent actually. What I've always liked about MS' conferences is that they show us what we're getting THIS year, instead of telling us to just hold on for something good coming later.. I think that has been Sony's major failing point. Sure, next year sounds great, but why should I buy a PS3 now?

But after all this hype, it is very disappointing that it was pulled at the last second. But again, it wouldn't be surprising if MS have just decided to save it, considering both their competitors had such poor showings at e3.