Halo Wars led to studio friction, says Ensemble founder
Halo Wars wasn't looked upon favorably by Bungie, according to Ensemble Studios head Tony Goodman.
For such a high-profile series, Halo has been fairly consistent in sticking in the first-person shooter genre. The one exception was Halo Wars, and Ensemble founder Tony Goodman says the project's departure from the norm created some strife with Bungie.
Goodman told Games Industry International that Microsoft was risk-averse to putting a strategy game on a console, and attached the Halo name to make it more marketable. "They just said, 'Why don't you just paint over what you have with Halo stuff?' But things aren't quite that simple," he said.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg. "Bungie was kind of sore about the idea," he said. "What they called it was 'the whoring out of our franchise' or something. Yeah, that didn't create a great relationship between us and Bungie; they viewed us as someone infringing [on their franchise]."
Bungie has made more positive comments about Halo Wars in the past, like AI specialist Damian Isla calling it a "very faithful adaptation" in 2008. It could be that the grumblings Ensemble heard were from different staff members, or that Bungie simply didn't want to speak publicly about its concerns. Either way, the series is back in solidly FPS territory for the foreseeable future.
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replySteve Watts posted a new article, Halo Wars led to studio friction, says Ensemble founder.
Halo Wars wasn't looked upon favorably by Bungie, according to Ensemble Studios head Tony Goodman.-
It's kind of hilarious how ignorant a statement like that could be. It's scary how clueless a person in power at a major publisher could be to say something like "paint over what you have with Halo stuff". I mean, it doesn't take a lot of knowledge and logic to realize what in insane statement that is. It's never that easy.. they have to know that (or maybe they do know and just don't care)?
On the thing about Bungie being bitter... it sounds like they could have been bitter about MS pimping out their Franchise that way and still be happy and respectful of the final product. From what I've heard from people and read from reviews... Halo Wars was a decent game for a console RTS.-
It does sound like the stereotypical late-2000's Microsoftian approach, back when MGS was ruled by Halo, Gears, and Forza, and all the other studios were being closed down (FASA, ACES, Ensemble), refocused (Rare), or had project focus cut back (Alan Wake for PC getting canned). It seemed like the typical suit approach to "we gotta stir up some interest in a developer whose sales numbers are trending slightly down, but have a passionate fanbase; what synergies can we stir up with our IP portfolio?" ...without talking to the developers who would be responsible for it.
Nick Breckon did a post-closure-announcement, pre-release interview with Graeme Devine and another guy at Ensemble in late 2008; it was pretty grim, but interesting. Nick also talked about it in an Idle Thumbs episode around that time.-
It was mentioned in the first 12 minutes of Idle Thumbs 7. Back then, it was mentioned that Halo Wars was not originally a Halo game.
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The 2008 interview with Ensemble sounded grim, but those guys ended up doing ok for themselves. A lot of them went on to create Robot Entertainment (Orcs Must Die, Hero Academy).
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why? it worked out better that way and the game was good. so what is the problem
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I have to say, I loved Halo Wars a lot more than Halo Reach. I was happy to see the franchise establishing itself into a different genre and what was more important was that the game was solid. It worked extremely well for an RTS title on the 360 and I really wished they had developed another before deciding to churn out yet more FPS's that I myself have grown bored of.
As far as these comments go, I think Ensemble should be praised for the work they did and Bungie themselves have decided to distance themselves from Halo so I don't see why a comment from a higher up should be taken that seriously anyway.
If you're worried about 'whoring' out your franchise, you don't leave it up to the Publisher to decide it's future. -
So Bungie, those comments on whoring. Kind of funny seeing as how you wanted out from under Microsoft so badly that you left Halo with them to get out. :D
And Halo Wars was an awesome game. Wish there was more of it. I'd definitely pick up a new one. -
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The timing is key though. They could have been really pissed at MS when they heard they were putting a Halo skin on a RTS on a console (before it was complete)? Just the idea of it to me sounds bad and I'd probably be pissed too if I was at Bungie. But the game came out ok partially because Ensemble was a great studio. It's not clear if this feedback from Bungie came during development or after. For all we know most people at Bungie could be fine with Halo Wars after it came out and they saw it was actually a good game which was respectful to the franchise. I guess what I'm saying is I get more the feeling that Bungie was pissed at MS not at Ensemble.
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I really enjoyed Halo Wars. It's simplistic sure, but it was still a lot of fun. And I liked the story. Always wanted a sequel. :(
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I loved it
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It was an awesome RTS but it should have been out on PC. I played the heck out of the demo and absolutely loved it, but it had to end there. I wasn't interested in purchasing any games for my dad's 360 and at the end of the day I'm a solid PC RTS player. Tbh, this game would have made more money being on PC
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It's worth mentioning that it is completely understandable for Bungie to express concerns AND give praise to Halo Wars after it was released.
The concerns over "whoring out the franchise" reffer to Microsoft's treatment of the franchise. It might not actually be a knock against the game itself in any way. -
It just hit me that the Covenant fighters remind me a tiny little bit of the White Star from B5...not a lot...just the basic silhouette from the front.
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