Bungie unfazed by PS3 ‘challenge’

Arguably the biggest aspect to Bungie’s deal with Activision today isn’t that the Halo-creator has signed with the publisher embroiled in an ugly legal spat over treatment of its studios.

No, it’s the fact that the once Xbox-exclusive studio has changed focus to a new IP that will be released on multiple formats.

For the past 10 years Bungie has worked solely on Microsoft’s Xbox and Xbox 360 platforms – so the switch to multiplatform could present some issues.

We put the question to the studio’s community manager Brian Jarrard – will it not be a challenge moving to platforms like PS3?

"Oh, sure – we’ve been Xbox exclusive for a long time," he said. However he confidently added: "But it’s something where we have some of the best engineering folks in the industry on board who are already thinking heard about how our new game universe might manifest itself over various devices."

And if Bungie’s world-class team of coders can’t quite make it, Jarrard said the new publishing deal with Activision gives the studio access to many who know multiplatform development well.

Said Jarrard: "That was another big draw to Activision – they have a lot of experience with multiple platforms and technical expertise. I think we’ll be able to work with them to leverage their experience and make that a little bit easier for us going forward."