00:00Sony's acquisition of Bungie in 2022 was one of the most surreal transactions to take place in
00:06the games industry in recent years. I mean, come on, PlayStation literally purchased the company
00:11that made the de facto mascot of Xbox. The irony of the situation isn't lost on former Xbox
00:17executive Ed Freeze, who led Microsoft's acquisition of Bungie 26 years ago. Freeze
00:22shared his own take on what it's like playing Marathon, a first-party PlayStation game developed
00:27by Bungie on his Xbox. Bungie and I'm having so much fun in Marathon. By the way, Bungie, the premier
00:35team when I left, I couldn't imagine that they'd have a fight with the guy who took over for me
00:39after I left, said Freeze. Seemingly referring to Xbox leadership's alleged pressure campaign to
00:45force Bungie to release Halo 2 before it was ready, something Freeze was vocally against. To me, it was
00:51so weird to launch Marathon and see a PlayStation logo come up, even though I'm playing on my Xbox.
00:57Freeze was instrumental to Xbox buying Bungie back in 2000, and he reiterates this by saying he
01:03made the initial call and left the acquisition, adding that he never would have believed Bungie's
01:08trajectory if you explained it to him way back then. If you'd have told me, oh, Bungie will be
01:12part of Sony, you know, 25 years ago, I'd be like, what? No, I don't think so. Let's be real
01:18though,
01:18if you told me in 2015 that the people who made Halo would be working for PlayStation,
01:23I probably wouldn't have believed you either.
