I'm not saying your necessarily wrong or you shouldn't have your opinion, but these are assumptions. I can quickly prove this because I've made different ones. :)

: That is an entirely different situation and was more or less a result of
: pushing back the announcement. Microsoft gave Bungie creative control on
: ODST.

: With Microsoft it was simply about IP ownership. Microsoft gave them free
: reign prior to Halo 2 and Halo 3 on creating new IP's but at that time
: Bungie had problems managing that. Bungie simply saw what other developers
: were able to do working as independent companies under contract with big
: name publishers so they could make more money for themselves.
: Unfortunately they signed the deal with activision who are notorious for
: milking franchises and causing problems with the creative process. Atleast
: Microsoft let Bungie do their thing and really only stepped in when
: necessary (Halo 2's troubled development).

Again, most of this paragraph is made up of big assumptions and interpretations. And we apparently have very different interpretations.

Bungie had problems managing new IPs so they just kept making Halos? Bungie looked at other developers and said they wanted to make more money like them? Microsoft gave Bungie complete creative control except for Halo 2?

I don't know where you got any of that. These statements could only be made by someone who actually worked for Bungie for a long period of time. And I've never read anything by such a person that would indicate these statements.

: Why would he leave if he was happy or content with the changes? Not only that
: but he went back to Microsoft Game Studios out of all places. So to me
: it's obvious he had problems with how things were going.

Maybe they offered him a great job? A lot of Bungie's classic employees are middle-aged now. They have kids, etc. Joe left Bungie with a nice note saying the core writing and foundation of the universe was finished and is in good hands. Perhaps he thought that would be a good time to leave Bungie and take what might have been a less-intense job, with more consistent hours and better pay. I don't think it being Microsoft means anything. I mean, there are 343i employees that left during or after Halo 4 to join Bungie. 343i and Bungie have had soccer matches with each other. Joe probably had lots of friends he made during the Halo era that still worked at Microsoft.

Who knows why he did what he did? That's the point. We definitely don't.

And the people that ARE involved with these events may all have different interpretations, even compared with each other.