Back in May, we told you about the mysterious filings made under the name "Bungie Aerospace." At the time, I theorized that the name had nothing to do with Bungie's next title, instead guessing that Bungie were actually developing a new game engine. Well, it looks like I was half-right, anyways. Bungie has finally revealed what Bungie Aerospace is, and while it has pretty much zero to do with the now-independent developer's next big game, it does sound fairly interesting.
Aerospace is essentially an indie and mobile game publishing initiative from the former "Halo" developer. The company is looking to assist up-and-coming independent developers to reach their full potential when creating games for the iOS and other mobile platforms. Now, before you're too disappointed that Aerospace wasn't a secret code-word for a triple-A title, take some time to actually look at this program, and realize that this could potentially be great.
"Bungie Aerospace will allow us to explore game creation in multiple formats with some amazingly talented teams," Bungie's Pete Parsons said on Bungie's site today. "Now that we’ve returned to our roots as an independent studio, we are in a position to launch Bungie Aerospace to support, foster, and elevate like-minded, independent developers."
What that means is indie mobile developers can seek assistance from the experience of a huge developer like Bungie, and in turn, some amazing games could come from the partnership. Bungie will also help those developers with access to their Bungie.net platform.
The first game to come out of the Aerospace program is "Crimson." You might have heard that the beloved ilovebees.com has recently come back online, and it doesn't appear that's a coincidence. The "Halo 2" alternate reality game's creator, Jordan Weisman, heads up indie developer Harebrained Schemes. The small studio will be the first developer to take advantage of the Aerospace program when "Crimson" launches later this summer.