Bungie released a new documentary today, O Brave New World, to give us rare insight into the history of their industry leading studio. It’s a love letter to the community and a testament to just how vital the fans are to Bungie.
The documentary is a celebration of the past twenty years; from Jason Jones and Alex Seropian packaging copies of Pathways Into Darkness personally, being an actual successful developer for the Mac with the Marathon series, almost losing the company after an install error in Myth II cost them a million dollars, revolutionizing the way FPS’ play on consoles, creating all the social features of Xbox Live themselves in the hellish development cycle of Halo 2, to finally becoming an independent development company and all the rest of the dirt in-between.
It’s amazing to think that this studio went from developing somewhat popular titles in a leaky Chicago office space to creating a cultural phenomenon in a cutting-edge complex in the span of just a few years. Bungie shows excellence in business-savvy moves, creative endeavors and community involvement all throughout their short 20 years of existence.
O Brave New World is also an epoch in the history of Bungie. The slate has been swept and now it’s time for new beginnings. The documentary is a symbolic gesture to officially pass the Halo franchise over to the team at 343 Industries. I’m excited to see what 343 has to offer, but I’m more excited to see Bungie move on and show us what they can do with Aerospace and their new universe.
All throughout the documentary there is a new symbol that can be seen along with the first look at Bungie working on their new game towards the end. It wraps up with one last cryptic look of the symbol staring at us directly in the face; just a tease of what they have in store for us. This is an absolute breakthrough, as Bungie is notoriously tight-lipped about new projects. No exceptions here, but it’s the first glimpse of anything related to the new universe we have gotten.
Let the anticipation officially begin.
O Brave New World [Bungie.net]
