Take-Two and Bungie Get Close

Take-Two has announced that it has agreed to acquire 19.9 percent equity in privately held Bungie Software for an undisclosed cash sum.

The two companies have also agreed to an arrangement where Take-Two's Jack of All Games subsidiary will distribute four of Bungie's upcoming titles: Oni, Halo, and two unannounced titles in North America. In Europe and Australia, Take-Two and Bungie will co-publish the four titles, and Take-Two's Rockstar Games will have the rights to publish console versions of these games.

GameSpot News spoke to Jamie Leece, vice president of business development at Take-Two, about the equity acquisition and the reasons it took place. Leece was one of the instrumental players behind the scenes. After seeing Bungie's then secret title in development Halo, Leece knew that Take-Two had to partner with Bungie.

Regarding Bungie's console plans, Leece said that platforms for the four games have yet to be decided. Considering Bungie's known titles, Oni and Halo, run on Microsoft's DirectX API on Windows - Dreamcast versions appear to be the simplest and most time effective ways of moving Bungie to consoles.