Bungie Forced To Use “Combat Evolved” Slogan By Microsoft — Hated It

The recent Bungie revelation reads much like a child being scolded and forced to eat his or her veggies, when all they really want is another slice of pizza. I’m talkin’ Halo branded pizza! Not that yucky “Combat Evolved” green stuff authority figures always insist on.

You guessed it, the 2007 split from Microsoft has done wonders to loosen the lips over at Bungie, as a recent Edge Magazine interview with Halo Designer Jaime Griesemer, let the world in on a previously well kept little secret — Microsoft apparently forced Bungie to use the “Combat Evolved” tagline on their original 2001 Halo release despite their best efforts to push back.

“Oh, man… the subtitle. At the time, Microsoft marketing thought Halo was not a good name for a video game brand. It wasn’t descriptive like all the military games we were competing with.”

He went on to say that the studio pleaded with Microsoft, stating “Halo was the name” of the game, but the best they could do was strike a compromise. A compromise Griesemer went on to discuss in detail:

“The compromise was they could add a subtitle. Everyone at Bungie hated it. But it turned out to be a very sticky label and has now entered the gaming lexicon to the point where articles that have nothing to do with Halo get titles like ‘Skateboarding Evolved’. So I guess in hindsight it was a good compromise.”

Well whadaya’ know. Turns out that a little forceful consumption of vegeta…err tag line on the part of Microsoft actually helped the Halo brand to grow up big and strong. There’s a lesson to be learned here, I’m just not exactly sure what it is. Oh yeah! When your parents pay the grocery bill, shut up and eat what they tell you.