The Bungie Store Is Now Open

By Matt Soell
May 6, 2002

Once upon a time there was an online store selling all manner of Bungie-related paraphernalia. It was good. Then came the day Bungie moved from Chicago to Redmond, and the store had to be taken offline while we unpacked and got ourselves accustomed to our new surroundings. There was a long dark time when the store was offline, and the people could not get their fix of cool Bungie gear. This was bad. In our eagerness to fill this void we made a bunch of mistakes, and when the store finally came back online there were far too many problems for any rational human being, let alone a bunch of irrational human beings like us. So we took it down again and bided our time until we could bring the Bungie Store back in the style to which we are all accustomed. That time is now. After a seemingly interminable wait, the Bungie Store is back online.

The revamped Bungie Store features three departments: Bungie Wearables (because if you can't be naked, you might as well wear some Bungie gear), Bungie Merchandise (for posters, books and assorted sundry goods) and of course Games (which features our back catalog exclusively, but we hope to add more recent games at some point). The Wearables section features classics like the "Don't Make Us Kick Your Ass" shirt and the "Carnage Zone" baseball cap, along with a new version of the Halo shirt we debuted at the Halo Launch Party (and there's yet another Halo shirt in the works!), a Seventh Column shirt for those of you in the movement, and a Bungie bucket cap for those of you who loved the one in Halo.

One thing you might notice is that we still don't have the Halo Soundtrack in stock. This is a problem that will be remedied shortly. We're just waiting for the boxes. Heh. Seriously, we've seen the press proofs for the disc and jewel case inserts, and at this point we're just waiting for the manufacturer to churn out those little reflective discs of joy and send a bunch of them our way. Those of you who have been jonesing for a sonic fix of Bungie Goodness will not wait much longer. Keep an eye on the store and your credit card info at the ready.

Speaking of the Seventh Column, those of you who have joined Bungie's underground army have an extra incentive to shop at the new Bungie Store: a sweet discount. Once a month, each chapter will be eligible to place an order of $100 or more and get a whopping 40% lopped off the price. Chaptermates who want Bungie swag can pool their orders and save a ton of money. It's a great way for chapter founders to encourage participation (because once everybody shows up to pick up their gear, it's only natural to hold a Halo party) and it's a great deal in general.

But that's not the only way to save money. Old-school fans who held onto their Bungie Bucks coupons can redeem them for a 20% discount at the new Store! Talk about consistency ? the Bungie Bucks you got in 1995 are still valid seven years later.

The new Bungie Store is hosted by eCompanyStore, who run online stores for a living and do a pretty good job of it. They are a separate company, though, which means that to log on to the site you'll need to create an account on their system; your bungie.net login will not work. (Don't worry, they won't sell your info to anyone.) One of the nice things about them is they will find people to manufacture any product that we come up with, which means that new products will be added to the Bungie Store with a frequency and consistency never seen before. We've got plenty of our own ideas, but we're willing to listen to yours as well, so feel free to write in with product suggestions.

The best thing about the store is that any profits go right back into our budget for doing cool things for the Bungie fan community. It doesn't go into our pockets, or even Bill Gates' pockets; it goes to funding bigger and better FanFests, tournaments, and pretty much any other project we think our fans will like. A purchase at the store helps our community grow and thrive. It's a beautiful thing.

Are you still reading this? You could be buying that cool new Seventh Column shirt. Get on over to the Bungie Store and spend, spend, spend!