The Microsoft service would not have existed without Master Chief

Nov 16, 2012 13:31 GMT  ·  By

Harold Ryan, a studio manager at Bungie, believes that the Xbox Live service from Microsoft would not have reached its success without contribution from the multiplayer side of the first-person shooter Halo.

The developer talks to GamesIndustry.biz and states, “I think Xbox Live wouldn’t have made it. I don’t think the Xbox would be where it is today without Bungie and without Halo.”

It seems that the involvement of Bungie is even bigger than the average gamer knows and that many Halo teams' members worked directly on Xbox Live.

He adds, “As a group, we provided both technical and creative guidance and thought leadership that really pushed the limits. We weren’t just a game developer using the service. We were integrated in the design of the service and how it worked. Systems for groups and matchmaking and skill ranking were all things that were pushed the furthest and the hardest by us.”

Halo also benefited Xbox Live by offering a deep multiplayer experience that could be used to show off what Microsoft could offer via its Gold premium subscription service.

Since it was launched, the Halo series has consistently topped the activity charts for Xbox Live and recently the fourth core game in the series did the same, ahead of other shooters and Minecraft.

Halo 4 was a big hit on launch, managing to generate sales of more than $220 million (€172 million) during a 24-hour period.

Developer 343 Industries and publisher Microsoft have promised that they would support the game in the long-term, offering multiplayer balancing patches and more content for the Spartan Ops mode.

Halo 4 sees Master Chief and Cortana return to the series and explore Requiem, a Forerunner planet, while fighting both old and new types of enemies.