It's safe to say that the peak of the "Halo" franchise was "Halo 3." That game had everything the fans wanted. "Halo: Combat Evolved" provided an incredible campaign and "Halo 2" gave players the best multiplayer experience of that time. "Halo 3" took the best elements from both games, and thus, it's considered to be one of the best (if not, the best) Xbox 360 games ever produced.
With that in mind, it's no surprise that everyone was completely stoked for the modded multiplayer version of "Halo 3" that went by the name "Halo Online." Unfortunately, with all the traction that it got, Microsoft is bringing everything to a halt.
Need a weapon?
This all started back in 2016 when Microsoft was developing the game exclusively for the Russian market. However, development was put on hold, but from that moment, nothing was done. That's when fans got a hold of the project and they started working on "ElDewrito," the launcher that was going to allow the game to work outside of Russia.
The ElDewrito team put out a trailer last week and that's when the momentum began to build up. "Halo 3" set the bar so high that the last two entries weren't able to meet the expectations that a lot of old fans had. So with "Halo Online" looking just like "Halo 3" -- with more polish and fewer bugs -- it's logical that everyone was going to jump on the hype train and support it.
That's where Microsoft stepped in.
“While we are humbled and inspired to see the amount of passion poured into this project, the fact remains that it’s built upon Microsoft-owned assets that were never lawfully released or authorized for this purpose,” stated 343 Industries in a blog post that was written last night. “As this project reverberated across the community, our team took a step back to assess the materials and explore possible avenues, while Microsoft, like any company, has a responsibility to protect its IP, code and trademarks.
It’s not optional in other words.”
Wake me when you need me
What's odd about all of this is how the situation is going down. With Microsoft, in their blog post, it states that DMCA takedown notices were being issued so that they can protect the Halo IP. But near the end of the blog post, it says that the modders "need to press pause on this work." With the ElDewrito team, things get a bit interesting.
According to a post that the team made, "there was no Cease and Desist, no DMCA, just a brief conversation about what they suggest we do." And Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, tweeted out the following:
It's still too early to say anything, but just for the sake of speculation, it seems like 343 Industries is working on something. Best case scenario on all of this is that 343 hires the entire ElDewrito team and they all put something out for PC. Worst case scenario is that they put a complete pause on all of this like they did back in 2016, and that's it. Hopefully that isn't the case.
This point is important "As we look ahead, we’re very excited about the prospects of an official classic Halo experience making its way to PC and we hope to be able to partner with the ElDewrito team and broader mod and content creation community" https://t.co/KVJbH5PfJI
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) April 25, 2018
Its now been three years since "Halo 5" came out.
E3 is coming up very soon and here's to hoping that 343 does something special for "Halo." Not only do the fans want a new installment of the franchise, but Xbox desperately needs a big game to compete with all of the exclusives that Playstation has put out, like "God of War" and "Horizon: Zero Dawn."
