by Enrique Caroli on Sep 23, 2008
Super-secret Halo MMO never sees light of day
Ensemble Studios, one of the many Microsoft Game studios is suddenly in the process of closing it's doors. We care because as all it's secrets come to light, it's been revealed that they were working on a Halo MMO. If anything was meant to be the ultimate PVP MMO - this would have been it.
The prototype art, which was at one point made available on an Ensemble-linked online artist portfolio website, further confirms previous rumors that the studio was working on an MMO based on the Bungie-created sci-fi franchise.
Notable, rumors reported in Game Informer magazine in early 2006 claimed that Bungie and Ensemble were teaming up to make a Halo-themed MMO. And, although it was not clear that it was Halo-specific, websites such as 1UP did point out that Ensemble was hiring for an MMO project as early as April 2006.
The title seems to have been in development in 2006 and some of 2007 -- though it's by no means clear that it was the only MMO-related title in development at the studio at that time.
Of course, that will not come to fruition at this time, since the studio will be closing. This was a surprise, even to the head of the studio, Bruce Shelley:
A senior executive of MGS addressed the studio in early September and gave us the news. He did not go into a lot of detail about why, but basically the decision, as I understand it, was based on several major factors. First, they want to divert the headcount tied up in ES and the costs that are expected to be required to run ES for the next few years into other projects. Second, it sounded like it cost more to run ES on a per person basis than other first party studios (Rare, Lionhead, Forza, Flight Sim) putting us at a disadvantage. (Plus they avoid the expense of a new office that we were planning.) And third, games those studios are expected to deliver in the next few years are expected to be more strategic and profitable to the company than anything we would be finishing after Halo Wars.
For more information on the closing of Ensemble Studios, please check here.
For more information on the now defunct Halo MMO, please check here.