Halo 4 dev believes leak was “inevitable”

By: Musa Afridi

  |   October 15th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Microsoft is currently investigating the source of the leak of their latest game and are dishing out bans left, right and centre but the developers behind Master Chief’s return, 343 Industries, believe that the leak was bound to happen.

Halo 4 is set to give the current first-person shooter giant, Call of Duty, a run for its money this holiday season. At least, on the Xbox 360 that is, as the game may finally break Activision’s monopoly on the console.

It will take some doing but if any series has the pedigree and enough weight behind it to challenge Black Ops 2 then it has to be Master Chief and Halo 4. Although the game has not been developed by Bungie, the studio behind the first three games, the ODST expansion pack and the prequel, Halo: Reach, there is still plenty of excitement surrounding the title.

343 Industries was tasked by Microsoft to bring one of the gaming world’s most iconic series back to life. As daunting as that may seem, the developer seems to have implemented their own creative direction to the game and look to build on what their predecessors have achieved.

Rather than revisit the story of the previous three games, 343 is looking to build on it and have developed an entire new race for Master Chief to battle against. Known as the Prometheans, the new enemies sport all new weapons and technology and their own reason for destroying planet after planet.

The game was set to release during the hottest period of the Holiday Season. Instead a leaked version of the game has found its way into the market. A number of sources reported the fact that leaked copies of Halo 4 had leaked and were available.

Microsoft was quickly on the case and confirmed that they were investigating the issue and looking to identify both the source of the leak as well as those who were playing the leaked version. The publisher is also handing out bans to anyone who has played the game.

However, the developer of the game, 343 Industries, doesn’t seem too bothered. Frank O’Connor, the franchise director for Halo, explained how “There are people putting the whole thing on YouTube. Microsoft is addressing that a single case at a time, it just takes a little while to handle.”

As for the leaks itself, O’Connor believes they are “inevitable” especially with such high profile titles. Leaks are not uncommon in the video game industry and neither is piracy, however, those usually tend to affect the PC market more than the console ones. However, the trend is changing as earlier on copies of Resident Evil 6 were on sale way before their release date.

Will the leak hurt Microsoft and Halo 4 or is it just minor blip? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.