In Russia, Halo Online teabags you!

There’s a new market on the way. One that taps into lucrative emerging economies with games that feature bare-bone systems built on existing properties and I’m sorry I can’t see my screen properly right now as my eyes have been replaced with gigantic Dollar symbols. Borderlands is doing it, League of Legends is coining it and Halo is also getting ready to go east with a product that is all about online play and none of that Reclaimer story fluff. Of course, some people want to get in on that action. And of course Microsoft is none too happy about that.

Modders are attempting to bring the Russian exclusive Halo Online out of the former Soviet Union, resulting in Microsoft firing back with DMCA takedown notices of the various tools being used to accomplish this. Except the modders aren’t exactly giving a damn right now about of this legalese talk. The DMCA takedown has resulted in the El Doriot hack being taken offline from its original Github hosting, although copies of the Halo Online files are easy enough to find from other sources.

And according to the hackers, their “noble cause” won’t be stopped any time soon, as they explained to TorrentFreak:

I don’t particularly see this as damaging, as some people have said. I don’t believe it for a moment, honestly. We’re working to improve people’s experience, bring it to those who wouldn’t have been able to play it anyway. I’d see that as a noble cause.

And that’s because the hackers say that they’re concerned that Halo Online could become a pay-to-win kind of game, as the team has found the potential for the core game mechanics to offer such options, as Neoshadow42 explained:

This whole project would be completely different in an ethical way if we had taken a paid game and reversed it for everyone to access for free. At the end of the day, El Dorito aims to deliver exactly what everyone wants. The closest thing to a Halo 3 experience as possible, but on PC. If we can manage that, I’ll be more than happy.

Fair enough. I’m not against the idea of hackers trying out the game for themselves. I’m not against Microsoft wanting to defend their property. But they’re missing out on one hell of a free marketing opportunity if they continue to prosecute, in case the game ever does head west.

Last Updated: April 7, 2015