Don't look for gaming pioneer Jordan Weisman to sell his next startup company to Microsoft. In an interview with gamesindustry.biz, the founder of FASA Interactive -- which was sold to Microsoft in 1999 and subsequently closed in 2007 -- said that the software giant "destroyed" the development culture of the organization.

"I don't think the studio ever really had a chance. It was destroyed right in the beginning," Weisman tells the online publication. Even more interesting, Weisman said that Microsoft was on the path to destroy Bungie -- maker of the popular game Halo -- before he intervened.

Weisman (who was working at Microsoft at the time) said he wanted to leave the Bungie team in Chicago. After that proposal failed, Weisman said he convinced Microsoft to put the Bungie team "in a walled off room" that operated separately from the rest of the company.

Eventually Bungie broke away. In 2007, the game developers behind Halo forged an agreement to branch off from Microsoft. "..Rather than stifle our imagination, they decided it was in both our best interests to unleash it," the Bungie team wrote at the time. 

Microsoft still holds an interest in Bungie, which earlier this year was reported to be moving to an old movie theater in Bellevue.

Weisman's comments come at an interesting time. His latest company -- Smith & Tinker -- just announced that it is backed with $29 million from Vulcan Ventures, DCM, Foundry Group and others.

With that kind of money in the bank, I guess Weisman doesn't mind rattling the cages of his former employer.

The gamesindustry.biz report also notes how Weisman has attempted to wrestle control of some of his former titles at FASA, including MechWarrior.