Acquired

Episode 4: Bungie (with Xbox Co-Founder Ed Fries)

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal 1h 10m 126 months ago

Every company has a story. Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them.

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Show Notes

Ben and David are joined by Former Microsoft VP and Co-Founder of Xbox, Ed Fries, to discuss the Bungie acquisition and the development of Halo. Highlights include:

Ed’s call with Steve Jobs after the acquisition, and sharing the stage with Steve and Bungie Co-Founder Alex Seropian at the Macworld Keynote.

Bungie today, and the unlikely path to get there led by Harold Ryan.

How to find something that all parties want to get a deal done, the creation Peter Tamte’s spin-out Mac gaming studio, and orchestrating the division of current Bungie projects and assets with Take-Two, led by Ryan Brandt.

Saving a project that’s off schedule and missing the mark, and how Jason Jones led the effort to make Halo 2 a hit at launch.

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