In 2000, Bungie was acquired by Microsoft, and the project, which was in development at that time, was reoriented to the upcoming Microsoft console — Xbox. The game was included in the console's starter game package, and subsequently became the so-called "killer application" of the Xbox platform, selling millions of copies and bringing billions of dollars in profits. Bungie has been releasing Halo series games for several years, but on October 5, 2007, it announced its independence from Microsoft, becoming a private company of Bungie (LLC); at the same time, the rights to Halo remained with Microsoft. In return, Bungie signed a contract with another game publishing company, Activision, in 2010, developing and releasing the multiplayer games Destiny (2014) and Destiny 2 (2017). In 2019, Bungie announced the end of the contract with Activision, expressing its intention to release further Destiny series games independently.