11 Fascinating Gaming Moments That Almost Happened
8. Gearbox Nearly Developed Halo 4
You’d struggle to find an Xbox exclusive as universally adored - or as influential - as Bungie’s Halo series.
The studio had originally intended for the franchise to be an RTS of sorts, and was even originally set to release for the Macintosh before evolving into a third-person shooter, and then into a first-person one over the course of development.
The rest was history. Halo: Combat Evolved released to universal acclaim, and spawned one of the most beloved mythologies in the gaming medium. However, there was always going to come a point in time when Bungie would have to leave the series behind, and someone else would step up to the plate.
That point came after the release of Halo: Reach, and though Bungie were always set to leave, the matter of who was going to replace them actually led Microsoft to an unlikely name, Gearbox, before they eventually settled on 343 Industries.
According to IGN, Microsoft actively pursued the idea of giving Halo to an external studio, and the one in pole position was Gearbox Software. The studio had originally presided over the PC port of the first Halo, but are most famous today for helming Borderlands.
Ewan Paterson