Bungie sets a date for final Halo handover

343 Industries will be in total control of the Halo universe from 31st March, franchise creator Bungie has announced.

A blog post on Bungie's site today explained that the transition of all Halo data will be complete by that date, and 343 will be the sole custodian.

"Bungie will no longer be able to update game stats and player service records, to host new user generated content, or to operate the Bungie Pro service. All currently supported, Bungie-developed Halo titles will be impacted by this change," it read.

However, it promised to preserve all existing historical Halo data on Bungie.net "for as long as the internet and Bungie's data storage systems remain functional".

"Thanks for making the Halo-era version of Bungie.net more successful than we could have possibly imagined. You complete us," the post signed off.

Bungie is currently hard at work on a mystery new multi-platform IP for Activision. 343, meanwhile, has already turned in its first Halo title - November's Combat Evolved remake. Its second, Halo 4, is due out later this year.