Rumors have been floating around since 2006 that a Halo MMO was in development, although this has never been solidly confirmed by Bungie, Microsoft, or Ensemble Studios (the studio that developed Halo Wars). It's recently revealed that the MMO was indeed real.

Unfortunately, it was canceled.

Yeah, anticlimactic huh? Anyway, several mock-ups and screenshots of the project have managed to find their way outside the studio. That's them up there, zoom in by clicking them. There's a lot more at the bottom of the article as well. Some specific characters and creatures in the screenshots weren't included in any Halo game, so I'm curious to know where the devs were taking the game.

According to Gamasutra, the Halo MMO project has been in development since 2006 by Ensemble Studios, but was likely internally canceled by mid-2007. By then it already had a prototype UI. Check out the leftmost screenshot up top. It already sports a health bar, man (or Psion, as the game calls it). A lot of similarities to World of Warcraft is worth noting too.

Of course, cancellation of this project doesn't mean it'll never happen. Microsoft's Phil Spencer recently commented that "There are more than two or three teams building Halo things right now." You can always cross your fingers.

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