I'd argue that Halo is more essential to making the Xbox what it is than Microsoft making Bungie. They gave them their break, sure, but I think Bungie has more than paid that debt off. It was business anyway. Microsoft knew what they were getting into when signing Bungie, don't act like they were doing them a favor. Microsoft is a business and took in Bungie in hopes of making money, nothing else. Look at what Bungie has done both directly and indirectly for Microsoft and games in general: Halo, a massive franchise whether you like it or not (and I really do not like Halo that much at all), has singlehandedly moved consoles for Microsoft for 2 and going on 3 generations of consoles now. It is THE exclusive for Xbox, it's practically the face of the Xbox. E-Sports basically took off on console because of Halo. CoD wouldn't be where it is right now in e-sports if it wasn't for Halo. CoD, even though It isn't an exclusive, is still a pretty big reason a lot of people buy Xbox consoles. It's where MLG is and it has a large following. It's THE console for competitive e-sports on console. You act as if Bungie owes Microsoft something, that's not the case. Microsoft has the rights to Halo for crying out loud, one of the biggest game franchises in history.