It seems Steve Jobs had good reason for his angry reaction to Microsoft's acquisition of game developer Bungie in 2000. It wasn't just because Microsoft had managed to swipe up a prominent Mac developer. Apparently, Apple had also been working to acquire Bungie at that time. Develop cites an ex-Bungie employee about what might have been.
His account of the circumstances was that Phil Schiller - Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing - then had a meeting with Steve Jobs to discuss if the Macintosh manufacturer should proceed with acquiring Bungie.
"Schiller asked Steve, who said no," Deniz tells Develop. "[But] after a week, Steve said yes. Schiller calls Bungie, but Bungie had already consummated the deal with Microsoft".
It's interesting to speculate how events would have played out if Apple had managed to acquire Bungie at the time. Halo, of course, became a massive success and has been the Xbox's flagship title since its launch.
