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Is the Haloverse spreading itself too thin?  One might not think so when you look at sales figures for the most recent Halo installment, Halo 3: ODST. According to Microsoft’s COO of interactive entertainment, Dennis Durkin,  Halo 3: ODST has sold over 3 million copies to date since its release on September 22, 2009. This sounds great, but when you consider it only took Halo 3 12 days to reach that plateau you see that is certainly a weaker number for Halo.

So I ask again, is the Haloverse spreading to thin?  Well, it would depend on who you ask, as to what answer you might get.  You ask this to Microsoft and you’re sure to get a no, since they are still making respectable money from it.  If you ask a rabid fan, you are also bound to get a no seeing as how they will sink their teeth into anything that is slightly attached to Halo. The corporate “no” is a direct reflection of these fan’s “no”. They form a symbiotic relationship that is prompting the growth of Halo into a wide variety of media list below.

1. Halo: Reach (the next game)
2. Comic books (Halo : Helljumper, and coming soon, Halo: Blood Line)
3. Videos
4. Books
5. Action figures

So, who is going to tell you yes when you ask them if the  Haloverse is spreading out too much?  How bout the smart fan? I know sometimes this can be a rare breed, but let us look at what all of these offshoots of Halo are giving us: detailed descriptions about supporting characters.  The important part of Halo is Master Chief. He is the one who takes the hero’s journey.  He is the one that is interesting, and makes Halo something other than just another story about how aliens hate us.  I know one can argue that providing backstory on other characters shows a real depth to the created universe, but it can also just become boring when the main hero is not involved.  Case in point, did anyone really give a crap about what those ODST soldiers were doing or why so and so loved so and so but couldn’t show it? Answer: probably not.

In wrap up I say this: I’m not against more Halo, but please make it relavent. Don’t put it through the Star Wars treatment (admit it, you know what this means… -ed note: Episode 1?-).  Let Master Chief be the story, and only fill in supporting character’s stories when it drives his.  This will not only be more satisfying, but it will make each story reap better profit.

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