Ever since Halo 2 was released, developer Bungie has hosted online data for the sci-fi first person shooter, along with its sequels Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach. Now that Microsoft is taking over the development of the Halo franchise, via their 343 Industries division, the time is coming soon when that online data will be transferred from Bungie to Microsoft.
Today, in a post on the Bungie.net web site, Bungie announced that the transition of Halo online service and support will be completed on March 31. Bungie states:
All live Halo data will be managed by 343 Industries, and 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. Any replacement functionality, and all future Halo support, will be provided by Microsoft and 343 Industries via Halo Waypoint at https://halo.xbox.com.
Bungie did say it would keep its historical Halo data on its site "for as long as the Internet and Bungie"s data storage systems remain functional." The developer previously handed over the Halo playlist management duties to Microsoft in August.
Microsoft will release Halo 4 for the Xbox 360 in late 2012. Bungie is currently working on a new and so far unannounced game for publisher Activision Blizzard with no known release date.