Farewell, Spartan.
Microsoft has closed down free-to-play Halo Online just a year after launch.
The experimental PC-only game launched as an alpha test in Russia last year. Although the servers were initially taken down last December, it was thought the cessation was temporary.
According to Russian social media site VK (via Gamasutra), the developers point to Microsoft as the reason why the project has shut down, with developer Fogeyman stating Microsoft colleagues had “failed to take decisions on the future of the project”, which consequently brought about the game’s demise.
“This decision was not easy for us, but we understand that there is nothing worse than uncertainty.” he added.
If you have in-game credit, hurry – refund requests can only be made via the official website until August 30, 2016.
Halo Online was designed to run well on lower-end PCs. Without a campaign mode, the game was set on a secret UNSC space station called “Anvil” where Spartans train together and test new technology.
Disappointed the game was not expected to come to other territories, a group known as El Dorito took an early build of the game and worked to make it accessible to PC gamers outside of Russia – despite requests from Microsoft to cease such efforts.
Vikki Blake is a very jumpy survival horror survivalist. You can find her twittering over at @_vixx and twitching at twitch.tv/vixxiie.