Jason Jones (programmer): Difference between revisions

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In 2000, [[Microsoft]] acquired Bungie, moving the team from Chicago to Washington State. Jones recalled that the buyout was a "blur [...] We'd been talking to people for years and years—before we even published ''Marathon'', [[Activision]] made a serious offer [to buy us]. But the chance to work on [the Microsoft [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] console]—the chance to work with a company that took the games seriously. Before that we worried that we'd get bought by someone who just wanted Mac ports or didn't have a clue."<ref name="history of bungie billion dollar donut">{{cite web|url=http://www.bungie.net/inside/history.aspx?link=oni |title=Billion Dollar Donut: Halo CE |publisher=[[Bungie]] |access-date=October 8, 2007|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080426200333/http://www.bungie.net/inside/history.aspx?link=oni |archive-date=April 26, 2008 }}</ref> Around the same time, a glitch in versions of ''Myth II'' was found to entirely erase a player's [[hard drive]]; this led to a massive recall of the games right before they shipped, costing Bungie nearly one million dollars.<ref name="history of bungie billion dollar donut"/><ref name="game icons">{{cite video|people=Bungie |date=October 12, 2004|title=Icons: Bungie |url=http://www.wraith-ops.com/hbomirror/Bungie_Icons.mov |format=[[.MOV|MOV]] |publisher=[[G4 (U.S. TV channel)|G4TV]] |access-date=March 14, 2008|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411182932/http://www.wraith-ops.com/hbomirror/Bungie_Icons.mov |archive-date=April 11, 2008 }}</ref> Composer [[Martin O'Donnell]] said that this recall created financial uncertainty in the studio, though accepting the offer was not something "Bungie had to do."<ref name="bungie podcast- odonnell">{{cite web|author=O'Connor, Frank |author2=Smith, Luke | author-link2=Luke Smith (writer) |date=December 12, 2007|title=Official Bungie Podcast 12/12/2007: With Martin O'Donnell |url=http://www.bungie.net/Inside/content.aspx?link=bungiepodcasttime |publisher=[[Bungie]] |access-date=February 28, 2008|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080331164029/http://www.bungie.net/Inside/content.aspx?link=bungiepodcasttime |archive-date=March 31, 2008 }}</ref> Jones and Seropian refused to accept Microsoft's offer until the entire studio agreed to the buyout.<ref name="game icons"/>

''Combat Evolved'' was highly successful, selling more than a million units in its first six months and driving Xbox sales.<ref name="foxnews-halo 3">{{cite news|first=Quibian |last=Moreno-Salazar|date=October 9, 2007|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300511,00.html |title=Microsoft Bets Big on Halo 3 |work=[[Fox News]] |access-date=February 25, 2010|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726045259/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C300511%2C00.html |archive-date=July 26, 2008 }}</ref> Jones led the development team that created its sequel, ''[[Halo 2]]'',<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/2005/time100/artists/100halo.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112120408/http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/2005/time100/artists/100halo.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 12, 2007|title=The Halo Trinity|work=[[Time Magazine]]|date=April 15, 2005|access-date=March 1, 2008|first=Lev|last=Grossman}}</ref> and served as director on a new video game series, ''[[Destiny (video game)|Destiny]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Destiny/Credits|title=Destiny Credits|publisher=Bungie|work=Bungie|access-date=February 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Ryan|last=McCaffrey|date=June 7, 2014|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/07/bungie-co-founder-halo-and-destiny-creator-jason-jones-breaks-11-year-silenc|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141222202231/http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/07/bungie-co-founder-halo-and-destiny-creator-jason-jones-breaks-11-year-silenc|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 22, 2014|title=Bungie Cofounder Halo and Destiny Creator Jason Jones Breaks 11-Year Silence|work=[[IGN]]|publisher=[[j2 Global]]|___location=Los Angeles, California|access-date=December 22, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Tom|last=Pakinkis|date=April 29, 2010|url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=244819 |title=Marathon boss heads Bungie's new IP |magazine=[[Computer and Video Games]] |access-date=May 1, 2010|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501163949/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=244819 |archive-date=May 1, 2010 }}</ref> He was listed in ''[[Next Generation Magazine]]''{{'}}s top 100 Developers in 2006 and 2007.<ref name="interview"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.next-gen.biz/features/hot-100-game-developers-2007 |title=The Hot 100 Game Developers of 2007 |work=Next Generation Magazine |date=March 3, 2007|access-date=March 1, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120820032431/http://www.next-gen.biz/features/hot-100-game-developers-2007 |archive-date=August 20, 2012 }}</ref>

After the release of Halo 2, Jones took a sabbatical from Bungie, not knowing whether he wanted to continue making games.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history|title=The Complete, Untold History of Halo|date=May 30, 2017|work=Waypoint|access-date=October 27, 2018|language=en-us}}</ref> As Jones returned, his involvement with Halo began to diminish,<ref name=":0" /> as Jones tended to 'dislike' sequels.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pid.bungie.org/IMGjasoninterviewOct93.html|title=IMG Interview: Bungie's Jason Jones|website=pid.bungie.org|access-date=October 27, 2018}}</ref> He desired to build a new intellectual property.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Blood, Sweat, and Pixels|last=Schreier|first=Jason|publisher=[[Harper Paperbacks]]|___location=New York City|year=2017|isbn=9780062651235|pages=176–200}}</ref> Jones worked closely with colleague [[Jaimie Griesemer]] who was working on his own internal project named "Dragon's Tavern" which Griesemer described to be a "third person fantasy game"<ref name=":1" /> In the end however, Jones had the most power at Bungie, despite not being the President he was the majority share-holder and his vision of the studio was his alone to decide.<ref name=":1" /> In the end, Jason got his way with the studio's next project and worked with Griesemer to combine his ideas of "Dragon's Tavern" with what would be ''[[Destiny (video game)|Destiny]]''.<ref name=":1" /> As development continued, and with Griesemer gone, the writing team led by [[Joseph Staten]] had created a "Super-Cut" which was essentially a summary of the game's story-line. The super-cut was poorly received by Jones and the rest of the studio.<ref name=":1" /> Shortly after, Jones decided to scrap the writing team's work and effectively re-write the story very late into production with [[Martin O'Donnell|Marty O'Donnell]], believing it was not feasible and almost impossible to complete.<ref name=":1" /> Knowing the game was in peril with his proposed reboot of the story, Jones formed a group called the "Iron Bar" composed of art director Christopher Barrett, designer [[Luke Smith (writer)|Luke Smith]] and writer Eric Raab, an experienced book editor.<ref name=":1" /> Jones and the rest of Bungie carried on to release ''[[Destiny (video game)|Destiny]]'' on September 9, 2014, to mostly positive reception.<ref name=":1" />