Bungie didn't want 'Combat Evolved' added to Halo title

Halo designer Jaime Griesemer has said that Bungie was reluctant to include the Combat Evolved tagline on the original Halo when it was released.

Speaking with Edge Magazine, Griesemer said that the firm originally "hated" the idea, but Microsoft insisted because it didn't think Halo as a title worked by itself.

"Oh, man... the subtitle," said Griesemer "At the time, Microsoft marketing thought Halo was not a good name for a videogame brand. It wasn't descriptive like all the military games we were competing with.

"We told them Halo was the name, [and] 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."

Halo: Combat Evolved eventually went on to sell five million copies within three years.

Bungie's latest and last Halo title for Microsoft, Reach, is slated to land on Xbox 360 September 14 and the Beta was played by over 2.7 million people.

Via CVG.