You haven't played it have you.

Never heard on ensamble studios either?

I think he's talking about ODST now, but I'm not sure.

I will also take this opportunity to say that Microsoft are horrible people for closing Ensemble.

And who's fault is that exactly?

If he is talking about Halo Wars (not sure why, this thread is about ODST), then he is right, to a certain extent. The game didn't sell how it did based on quality and the awesomeness of Ensemble, I'm sure many of the people who bought the game had never heard of Ensemble or Age of Empires. The same game, not set in the Halo universe, and with no references to Halo, would not have sold nearly as well as Halo Wars.

@Kantor,

I wonder why they did that? It's not like they were bad or their games weren't selling!! Was this decision ''recession related'' or something like that?

@Kantor,

Haha you edited your comment!!

MS shouldn't have closed ensemble. BIG mistake.
It doesn't matter if people who bought the game knew who they were all that matters was that it was a good solid game and it was.

I think the same game with no references to halo could have sold as well or better.
It could have been used to start a new IP without all the hate that follows halo from non halo or xbox owners

By that logic, you mean that most people who play the Halo canon are blinded by brand loyalty.

Very well, let's analyze the sales then:

Halo: Combat Evolved = 6.43 million.

Halo 2 = 8.43 million.

Halo 3 = 10.30 million.

Halo Wars = 1.54 million.

If people were so devoted towards the Halo brand, why would Halo Wars' sales be significantly less than the other games?

Nope. Without the Halo brand name, it was just a regular console RTS. Quality is irrelevant in such a niche genre.

Sure excellence doesn't always sell but it does at times.
Even niche, look at guitar hero when it came out.
But console owners have wanted a playable RTS for years so it had to in its favour. If it had been a new IP it would have sold due to the revolutionary controls.

Though I suspect you won't contemplate the notion it could sell without halo.

The regular comment proves it. It was more than a regular RTS and quality is never irrelevant. For niche it's essential so I don't quite understand that part.

You haven't played it either or you'd know that.