A few years ago, Microsoft-owned Ensemble Studios, the team behind Age of Empires, was working on a Halo massively-multiplayer online game, code-named Titan. That project ended up a bust, and was cancelled by Microsoft. Here's why.
"We had all this incredible talent, we had the right people, the right passion, we had a phenomenally successful IP - the Halo IP", says Dusty Monk, formerly of Ensemble.
"[But Microsoft] were looking really hard at the Nintendo Wii and they were really excited by the numbers that the Wii was turning. So part of this changing of the guard at Microsoft came along with the changing of the attitude to this very expensive, very long and very protacted $90 million USD project we were working on. To cut a long story short, Titan was closed down."
And here I was thinking the problem was the fact Halo is known purely for its fast-paced combat and one-dimensional military factions, making a more social experience one largely unrelated to the franchise's core appeal. But hey, what do I know!
Cancelled Halo MMO Details [inc gamers]