Ensemble founder, Tony Goodman, has detailed internal stress and problems between the Halo Wars developer, series creator, Bungie, and Microsoft.
The game, which started out as a strategy game separate from the Halo universe, was a "really fantastic, under-recognized product", according to Mr Goodman. However, he felt the inclusion of Master Chief, the iconic protagonist from the Halo series, was forced into the game.
"Microsoft was pretty risk adverse and they said, 'I don't know if we want to take the risk of creating strategy games on a console.'" The company, according to Mr Goodman, said it would feel better if Halo were to attached to the game.
That pushed the game back a year.
"They just said, 'Why don't you just paint over what you have with Halo stuff?' But things aren't quite the simple," he explained.
There were also issues within Bungie, with the developer unhappy about the Halo brand being used in a different genre.
Bungie called the game "the whoring out of the franchise or something", says Mr Goodman, which caused friction between the developer and Ensemble.
Source: GamesIndustry
By Gaetano Prestia