Apple boss furious at MS Bungie buy-out

By Fred Dutton Published 26 October, 2010

Steve Jobs threw toys out of pram.

Microsoft's purchase of Bungie back in 2000 made Steve Jobs so angry that a special deal had to be brokered to appease the aggrieved Apple despot.

Former Microsoft exec Ed Fries told Develop, "As soon as we announced we bought Bungie, Steve Jobs called. He was mad at [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer and phoned him up and was angry because we'd just bought the premier Mac game developer and made them an Xbox developer."

Prior to jumping ship to Microsoft and making Halo, Bungie had developed a number of successful games for the Mac, including the Marathon series.

"So, during the day, I got an email from Steve Ballmer asking me to phone Steve Jobs and calm him down about the whole thing," Fries continued.

"Anyway, we did this deal with Apple where we'd port some PC games to the Macintosh and help Peter Tamte create this company to do it, and I had to go to a Mac developer conference and get on stage and talk about this whole new partnership. It was a pretty strange time."

Gulp. Next time you bump into Jobs in the pub, be sure not to spill his pint, won't you?

Ed Fries left his role as Microsoft's vice president of game publishing in 2004 to set up 3D modeling studio Finger Prints. Jobs, on the other hand, is gearing up for another Apple gaming offensive with the imminent launch of an App Store for the Mac.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • CaptainQuint #1 2 years ago

    I can imagine him now, pacing up and down his office, fuming, in his stone wash jeans and trainers.

    Geek fury!

  • Metalfish #2 2 years ago

    Protip for looking like a serious gaming site: don't post something just because Kotaku does.

  • anomagnus #3 2 years ago

    If you've ever worked for Apple in Corporate, you'll know the tales of Job's fury. The man was, and is, a total mentalist and fires people on the spot. The elevator pink slip guy, the R&D security guard, and the paris expo cigerette incident all spring to mind.

    When this guy flips, he flips OUT. You do not want to be near him then.

  • hoster #4 2 years ago

    "Anyway, we did this deal with Apple where we'd port some PC games to the Macintosh and help Peter Tamte create this company to do it, and I had to go to a Mac developer conference and get on stage and talk about this whole new partnership"

    This statement says a lot about how the rivalry between the American tech companies is pretty theatrical: Surely if they'd purchased Bungie outright, then that's none of Apple's Business. Why not just go tell Jobs to swivel?

  • mungolikebeans #5 2 years ago

    I'd love to hear that phone call:

    "You stand down"

    "No, you stand down"

    'NO, YOU STAND DOWN"

  • AbeFroman #6 2 years ago

    Slow news day?

    "Man angry 10 years ago"

  • Ryboy #7 2 years ago

    Fuck off Jobs, you angry little nerd-rage fucktard.

    Surprised someone hasn't battered you to death with your own legs by now.

  • Ryboy #8 2 years ago

    "When this guy flips, he flips OUT. You do not want to be near him then..."

    I would literally shit myself with sarcasm.

  • CaptainQuint #9 2 years ago

    "Slow news day?

    "Man angry 10 years ago"

    Lol!

  • Gnort #10 2 years ago

    @anomagnus

    When this guy flips, he flips OUT. You do not want to be near him then.

  • jambii267 #11 2 years ago

    I remember reading somewhere that Bungie said they were very happy to be bought out by a company was actually serious about gaming. Up yours Jobbie.

  • StooMonster #12 2 years ago

    Not sure I believe this story. Steve Jobs giving a rat's ass about games? Just doesn't ring true. He's famously hated gaming, at least until the iOS App Store made it something he couldn't ignore.

    Even these days, their "caring about games" is limited. If Apple really did care about gaming they would surely complete the (currently partial) implementation of two year old OpenGL 3 into OSX, rather than relying on four year old OpenGL 2.1, and maybe even get 2010's OpenGL 4.0 (feature parity with DirectX 11) into OSX asap.

  • MerricK #13 2 years ago

    what a cock. its called business, how many times has Apple/Steve-O done this himself?

    As this is 10 years old hopefully he's grown up
    Edited by MerricK at 26/10/10 @ 19:13

  • Vertius #14 2 years ago

    Bit of a history lesson needed.

    I can understand why he was fuming, since Bungie had announced they were making Halo for the Mac, and had shown off footage at a Macworld conference which was, at the time, stunning. Not so now, of course! They had publically tossed Halo's chips behind the Mac before Microsoft bought them out. To be frank, I would've thought Jobs would be more bothered with how successful it was for Microsoft since then, but I think he had a right to be mad. Even if he had no legal right to anything. It'd be rare for me to say this, but fair dues to Microsoft to try and placate him. They didn't need to do anything for him, though I'm sure MS would've bought Bungie five times over for all the success they've brought them, arguably ensuring the Xbox didn't go the way of the Dreamcast.

  • ZuluHero #15 2 years ago

    Hmm.. I wonder what happened today that EG will be posting about in 2020? ;)

  • immateriaux #16 2 years ago

    Team Meat's next game will not be Super Meat Boy 2, the two-man indie developer has revealed. Ten years ago.

  • ciril #17 2 years ago

    He should get some tips from Steve Ballmer on how to throw a proper rant. Just like that one:
    [link url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/05/chair_chucking/
    ]http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/05/...[/link]

    Anyway, raging executives or CEO's are always a good laugh :D.

  • Collymilad #18 2 years ago

    They should've just told the twat to go **** himself.

  • mingster #19 2 years ago

    10 years late... And Apple were skint 10 years ago they couldn't afford squat then.

  • Ryboy #20 2 years ago

    In other news Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors...

  • StooMonster #21 2 years ago

    ZuluHero: I wonder what happened today that EG will be posting about in 2020? ;)

    Rumour of the day in the markets is that Apple are going to buy Sony. ;)

    (Not that I believe a word of it.)

  • QotSAfan #22 2 years ago

    Steve Jobs really is a prick.

  • AphoticCosmos #23 2 years ago

    This doesn't really surprise me, Jobs looks like a psychopath. He doesn't even change his clothes.

  • ManicDrunkMonk #24 2 years ago

    This seems highly unlikely. A man that's shown no interest in games until the last year, went crazy 10 years ago over the buyout of a only moderately (at the time) successful developer?

    I imagine the iPhone aerial issues sent him loopy, but not this.

  • The_Ty #25 2 years ago

    Give it a rest with the "slow news day" whinges. No-one's forcing you to read it. Plenty of 'serious' news articles to read

  • GamesConnoisseur #26 2 years ago

    Tells us a lot more about both Apple and MS innit?!

    Apple get a goody goody reputation when undeservingly so and MS the hated company that actually goes out of it way to calm a mental guy?!

    At end of day whatever the reps, they all are actually the same, all humans working in a big tribal profit making mega institutions!

  • flaming.carrot #27 2 years ago

    They were developing Halo and Oni at the time Microsoft bought them, those games still came out on the Mac so not sure why Jobs got so angry (it's probably not true anyway, as others have pointed out, SJ does not really give a shit about computer games).
    Edited by flaming.carrot at 27/10/10 @ 08:49

  • geeza2020 #28 2 years ago

    I think if I had to choose either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs as a boss, I would go with Gates every time. He seems a lot less likely to rip you to shreds at the drop of a hat.

  • StooMonster #29 2 years ago

    geeza2020: I think if I had to choose either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs as a boss

    Although Steve Ballmer has been CEO of Microsoft for more than a decade, and Steve Jobs has been back at Apple for 14 years.

    So, Steve "tantrum" Jobs or Steve "chair throwing" Ballmer is the real choice ... not so easy now is it?

  • geeza2020 #30 2 years ago

    I can dodge chairs all day, but words sting!

  • Bluetooth #31 2 years ago

    Developers, developers, developers, YEAH BABY