- Synthmilk
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Technically speaking...unless Halogen was in direct competition with a Microsoft product, there is no reason for Microsoft to care.
The number of highly popular webcomics, and fanfictions, out there, all use as much or more things from the Haloverse than Halogen was, yet their not shut down.
Halogen was free, and in fact I think there are fanfictions that are even more popular than this game was, so why axe it, as apposed to much more popular media that is in fact in direct competition with existing and future Halo products sharing that media?
This isn't just some random speculation, logically speaking Halogen really was the least threat to Microsoft out of everything. Halo is popular as a FPS, it will continue to be an FPS, and Bungie is not working on another game, as they have said, their entire staff is busy either working on Halo 3, or busy working on Halo 3.
And last I checked, Halo is a Bungie copyright, not a Microsoft copyright, and so unless Bungie has given another developer the green light to take Halo and make an RTS (not likely, Bungie is stingy with their creations, just look at the steps they have taken with the Halo movie, they even threw out a script that Microsoft paid a million dollars for, because it wasn't good enough), there will never be competition between a fan made, free, mod using Halo content, and a true Halo product.
Now this implies, through no small leap of logic, that Microsoft has intentions with Halo beyond Halo 3, the movie, and the upcomming novels.
Are they going to try and get Bungie to make a Halo RTS, and axing Halogen is a pre-emptive strike to stop a highly popular Halo based RTS from taking market share? Is Bungie going to let another developer make a Halo RTS, and just not telling us in typical Bungie fashon?
And a far out theory: Is Microsoft going to aquire Slipstream Productions, and this was just a move to keep them from going to far on a project that Microsoft wants done using a next gen engine? Not likely, though.
The first two possibilities are exciting in their own way, an official Halo RTS, something every RTS fanboy has craved since they first saw Cortana...er...I mean, Halo: Combat Evolved.
Best of luck to Slipstream, I am sure we are going to see something awsome out of them in the future. (And on a personal note, should I win the lottery, I am sending them a fair chunk of it, they have tallent, and could go far, they just need a little money.)