Fifteen years ago the game development company Bungie Software was created. The small company developed video games for the Macintosh platform during the mid-1990s, becoming one of the more significant developers for Apple video games. Starting with Myth in 1996, Bungie began developing for both Macintosh and Windows platforms; however they were still regarded mainly as a Macintosh developer. It was in 1999 that the company announced their latest product, a game they touted as having a first-class physics and AI system. The game was unveiled at the Macworld Expo in 1999 where the Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, spoke about Bungie’s new game known as Halo. Then in July of 2000, Microsoft announced their acquirement of Bungie Software, this news could only be described as heartbreaking for Apple users.

It was the heartbreak of Apple's gaming community which became the unbelievable joy for all Microsoft gamers. After becoming apart of Microsoft Game Studios, Bungie immediately began developing Halo for Microsoft’s Xbox. A little over a year after Bungie was sold to Microsoft, Halo: Combat Evolved was released. Since that release in November of 2001, over five million copies of Halo have been sold worldwide. Halo became a killer-app; it was a game which highlighted the technology of the Xbox and thus helped generate a great deal of Xbox sales.

Bungie’s success with Halo brought much anticipation for the sequel. While the original Halo was popular, it was the implementation of internet gameplay which catapulted the sales of Halo 2, Halo’s successor. Released in November of 2004, Halo 2 reached new heights for Bungie and Microsoft by selling over seven million copies worldwide. The weakness of only being able to play multiplayer in person was overcome when Xbox Live was introduced for Halo 2. Now instead of having to gather in one location to play multiplayer Halo, it was possible to stay at home and play over the internet. This vastly improved the situation as now people could frag their friends from the comfort of their own home. With the addition of a headset to communicate to other players, the quality of gameplay reached new heights for a console First Person Shooter.