Editing Titan (canceled game)

[[File:MMO Interface Prototype 1.jpg|300px|thumb|Screenshot mock-up, with ''[[Wikipedia:World of Warcraft|World of Warcraft]]'' HUD superimposed.]]

[[File:MMO Interface Prototype 2.jpg|300px|thumb|Another interface prototype.]]

{{Quote|Ensemble has been wanting to make an MMO for a long time. That was in production for a long time. The Halo IP was a great IP to launch an MMO with. Microsoft... hasn't had the best track record with those. <br>And we worked on it for a long time--we had staffed up an almost-40 person team. And then there was some reorganization at Microsoft, and the new bosses thought it wasn't the best idea anymore. It had actually been green-lit, and then it got cancelled after that.|Dave Pottinger{{Ref/Site|Id=shacknews|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://www.shacknews.com/article/55941/age-of-empires-dev-ensemble|Site=Shack News|Page=Age of Empires Dev Ensemble Speaks Out on Studio Closure, Microsoft, and the Cancelled Halo MMO}}}}

'''Titan''' was the codename for a canceled ''Halo'' [[Wikipedia:Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)]] developed by [[Ensemble Studios]] between [[2004 (real world)|2004]] and [[2007 (real world)|2007]].{{Ref/Site|Id=interview1|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/264/windstorms-dusty-monk-interview---part-one/2|Site=IncGamers|Page=Windstorm's Dusty Monk Interview - Part One - Page 2|Quote=For two years, before we all moved onto Halo Wars, we were working on an MMO prototype, and it was codenamed Titan.|Detail=(defunct, [http://web.archive.org/web/20100417090003/http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/264/windstorms-dusty-monk-interview---part-one/2 Archive])}} Following the project's cancellation in 2007, Ensemble Studios focused all of its resources into developing ''[[Halo Wars]]''.

''Titan''{{'}}s origins began in [[1998]] following the release of ''[[Wikipedia:Ultima Online|Ultima Online]]''. At this time, designer Ian Fischer began pitching a sci-fi MMO to Ensemble Studios, due to his love for the genre.{{Ref/Site|Id=ensembletour|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132312/ensemble_studios_the_last_tour.php?page=2|Site=GamaSutra|Page=Ensemble Studios: The Last Tour (Page 2)}} The game was designed to compete against [[Wikipedia:Blizzard Entertainment|Blizzard Entertainment]]'s [[Wikipedia:World of Warcraft|World of Warcraft]],{{Ref/Reuse|interview1}}{{Ref/Reuse|interview2}} The prototype went through many design iterations, before eventually being married to the ''Halo'' IP and being given the codename ''Orion''.{{Ref/Reuse|ensembletour}} At some point, the project name was changed to ''Titan''.

By [[2004 (real world)|2004]], development on the project had begun fully, with a budget of around $90 million USD.{{Ref/Reuse|interview1}} To support the operations of such a large scale project, a new 60,000 square-foot campus was commissioned for construction.{{Ref/Reuse|ensembletour}}{{Ref/Reuse|interview2}} Around 40 staff in three teams worked on ''Titan'' while other Ensemble staff focused on developing ''Halo Wars'', though one team remained on the project for six months.{{Ref/Reuse|shacknews}}{{Ref/Reuse|oneremains}} During the early stages of ''Titan''{{'}}s development, Ensemble took inspiration from ''[[Wikipedia:World of Warcraft|World of Warcraft]]''{{'}}s general structure and gameplay.{{Ref/Site|Id=interview2|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/264/windstorms-dusty-monk-interview---part-one/3|Site=IncGamers3|Page=Windstorm's Dusty Monk Interview - Part One - Page 3|Detail=(Defunct, [http://web.archive.org/web/20100417090008/http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/264/windstorms-dusty-monk-interview---part-one/3 Archived])|Quote=We weren't necessarily making WoW in space, but we were certainly adopting a lot of the things that we saw working in World of Warcraft and then putting it in a sci-fi genre.}} During production, the team at Ensemble consistently did evaluations of how successful they expected the game to be; at the time the only noteworthy science fiction MMO on the market was ''[[Wikipedia:EVE Online|Eve Online]]'', which had a very different style to more conventional MMOs. The analysis', conducted in conjunction with Microsoft, used the most critical and negative calculations possible and still estimated that the ''Halo'' MMO would earn just over a billion dollars at minimum - on account of the quality of Ensemble's team and the value of the ''Halo'' intellectual property at the time. Ultimately, the project was estimated to need three and a half years to finish, {{Ref/YouTube|Id=Sandy|wNlNAlfr7Jw|Bored With Nelly|What Happened To Halo MMO Game?|Detail=An interview with Sandy Petersen, who discusses in-depth the ''Halo'' MMO's cancellation}}

The project was said to be radically different in the later stages, exploring then-novel concepts and gameplay additions such as "heroic stylized artform" and cover system (later used in ''[[wikipedia:Star Wars: The Old Republic|Star Wars: The Old Republic]]''), and public quests (later used in ''[[wikipedia:Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning|Warhammer: Online]]'').{{Ref/Site|Id=incgamer|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://www.incgamers.com/News/21928/cancelled-halo-mmo-details|Site=IncGamers|Page=Cancelled Halo MMO Details|Detail=(defunct, [http://web.archive.org/web/20100415050548/http://www.incgamers.com/News/21928/cancelled-halo-mmo-details Archived])}} Instead of mana points as used in ''World of Warcraft'', a character's special ability energy was referred to as psion.{{Ref/Site|Id=psionmana|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20153|Site=Gamasutra|Page=Exclusive: Ensemble Studios' Canceled Project Was Halo MMO|Quote=The character pane shows a health bar and 'mana' -- or Psion, as is referred to in this title... The upper right icons are for basic character functions.}}

===Cancellation===

''Titan'' was internally cancelled in mid-to-late 2007 with no formal announcement of its development by Microsoft.{{Ref/Site|Id=oneremains|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20153|Site=Gamasutra|Page=Exclusive: Ensemble Studios' Canceled Project Was Halo MMO}} By this time, the majority of the studio's staff were expecting the MMO to be the company's focus in the future{{Ref/Reuse|ensembletour}} and Ensemble had a server infrastructure for the game, a ''World of Warcraft''-scale gameplay zone and many of the vehicle and gunplay mechanics in a playable state.{{Ref/Site|Id=robf1|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=https://twitter.com/xemu/status/1151680760753131520?s=19|Site=Twitter|Page=Rob Fermier|Quote=There was a lot more than just concept art - we had a server infrastructure, a built out WoW-scale zone, lots of vehicle & gunplay mechanics adapted to MMO scale.  Mind you this was all back in 2007 so at the time much of that territory was still unexplored.}} Ultimately, the planned new campus was never greenlit for construction and requests to know why ignored, until a source within Microsoft leaked that the company planned to dissolve Ensemble following the release of ''Halo Wars''.

 

''Titan'' was cancelled due to a shift in leadership within Microsoft, as the company saw the success of the Nintendo Wii and ultimately decided to change their shift into a more casual-friendly direction - with this came the decline of interest in the ''Titan'' project and the $90 million funding. With the cancellation of ''Titan'', the studio's staff and efforts were shifted into the ongoing ''[[Halo Wars]]'' project which released in [[2009]].{{Ref/Reuse|interview1}} Part of this shift in leadership came in 2007, when [[Wikipedia:Don Mattrick|Don Mattrick]] became the head of Microsoft Game Studios. As part of his hiring contract, Mattrick had three years to make the gaming part of Microsoft profitable which, if achieved, would see him given a substantial monetary bonus. As such, despite the potential long-term gains that the ''Halo'' MMO was forecasting, the development time was too long and wouldn't allow Mattrick to keep his bonus. Additionally, Ensemble Studios were a very expensive studio to run and Mattrick had personal investment in keeping around other studios such as [[Wikipedia:Rare (company)|Rare]] due to his personal connections - as such, he kept Ensemble around until ''Halo Wars'' released, then shut down Ensemble Studios to increase the profitability of Microsoft gaming - even at the cost of potential long-term profits. Ultimately, Mattrick never got the bonus due to his less successful endeavours with [[Xbox LIVE]].{{Ref/Reuse|Sandy}}

 

{{Center|To view a full gallery of concept art produced for Titan, see [[Titan (canceled game)/Concept art|here]]}}

 

 

 

Notably, a number of concept art pieces released for ''Titan'' have also been released under the ''Halo Wars'' titling, indicating a number of concepts and ideas were shared between games.

File:MMO_AlienDesert_3.jpg|Alien Desert - note the presence of the Halo in the sky

File:MMO_Jungle_Overlook_1.jpg|An alien jungle overlooking a Forerunner structure.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Jungle_Overlook_2.png|An alien jungle overlooking a Forerunner structure.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Jungle.png|The alien plant in the jungle.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Planet.jpg|A planet.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}

File:MMO_Starmap_1.png|A holographic star map.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Starmap_2.png|A holographic star map.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Lightbridge_1.png|A structure resembling a light bridge.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Lightbridge_2.png|A structure resembling a light bridge.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Lightbridge_3.png|A structure resembling a light bridge.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_ForerunnerInterior_1.jpg|A Forerunner interior.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_ForerunnerInterior_2.jpg|A Forerunner interior.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}

File:MMO_Jungle_Plant.jpg|A plant for the jungle environment.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_ThornyPalm.jpg|A "thorny palm" plant

File:MMO_Base_1.jpg|An unknown, possibly human base structure.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Base_3.jpg|An unknown, possibly human base structure.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Base_4.jpg|An unknown, possibly human base structure.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Base_2.jpg|An unknown, possibly human base structure.{{Ref/Reuse|shannon}}{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Pod.png|An asset resembling a cryo pod.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

File:MMO_Machine.png|Unknown machinery.{{Ref/Reuse|shannonart}}

{{Ref/Sources}}

 

[[Category:Titan (canceled game)| ]]

[[Category:Ensemble Studios games]]

[[Category:Cancelled games]]