Following what appears to be a revitalization of the Halo Wars community after a successful Halo Wars 2 launch on February 21, 343 Industries and Halo Wars developer Ensemble Studios have released a trailer for their Halo Wars remake, titled Halo Wars: Definitive Edition.
Despite the remake trailer announcing improved graphics, multiplayer, and free DLC from the original game, which should be expected from any remake, the true greatness of the reboot stems from its ability to be accessed via Steam, Xbox One, and Windows 10.
Many fans debated whether or not Halo Wars on a PC could compete against at-the-time PC giant, StarCraft 2. Unfortunately, this debate never progressed due to Halo Wars always being limited to the Xbox 360, but now it finally has an opportunity to prove its worth against some of the most fierce real-time strategy (RTS) games, that are predominantly PC-based. Although Halo Wars 2 has been well received amongst most fans of the original, many still feel a sense of nostalgia from the original masterpiece.
Halo Wars is evolving as an esport, with organizations such as Greater Toronto Halo, a small-scale Canadian event host, hosting LANs for the game. Upon its release on Feb. 26, 2009, Halo Wars was automatically perceived as a “side game” by Halo competitors, due to Halo 3’s competitive platform being tremendously more appealing. Already at a disadvantage for having to lure fans from Halo 3 or established RTS games, developer Ensemble Studios never even attempted to treat it as a competitive game by supporting tournaments. Major League Gaming (MLG), the premiere event host for Halo competitions at the time, never bothered with it either, as its success with Halo 3 was enough for it to handle.
With no support from event hosts and the developer, Halo Wars and its fans were left to fend for themselves. This ultimately left Halo Wars without a supported competitive platform, leading to a lack of interest from RTS fans, as other RTS games featured more competitive support from developers. One can only hope that Halo Wars 2 developers, 343 Industries and Creative Assembly, can provide its community with the support it needs to grow into a competitive title.
