Halo Online Mod Creator, ElDewrito, Banned by Microsoft

ElDewrito, the creator behind the Halo Online mod, has Microsoft's sights set on him following the 0.6 update that went live for the ambitious fan project.

343 Industries has officially declared war on the creator via Halo Waypoint, sharing their plans to "initiate action" against him and his team. The bright side, is that they do seem open to speaking with the crew before anything permanent is in place. If negotiations can't be met, the mod that started out a simple free-to-play experience turned server extraordinaire will be officially buried.

Here's what 343 had to say about their first step towards blocking ElDewrito:

"Today we want to let our community know that Microsoft has initiated actions to protect its Halo intellectual property in the wake of the recent "ElDewrito" PC release. Community created content has long been a key pillar in the Halo franchise and something we have continuously sought to support – from the early beginnings of Red vs. Blue to Forge-made maps & modes to the "Halo Custom Edition" to original recent fan creations like "Installation 01." These projects, and others like them, have one key factor in common – they fit within Microsoft's established content usage guidelines."

"Back in 2014, Microsoft, 343 and Sabre Interactive partnered to develop "Halo Online" – a title that was being developed exclusively for the Russian market," explained the developer update. "The game was subsequently put on indefinite hold but Halo Online ended up in the wild beyond its intended audience and official scope, resulting in DMCA takedown notices being issued by Microsoft. As time went by, Halo Online faded and fell off the radar until the recent exposure of the .6 update shined a new light on the current ElDewrito project."

They then added, "While we are humbled and inspired to see the amount of passion poured into this project, the fact remains that it's built upon Microsoft-owned assets that were never lawfully released or authorized for this purpose. As this project reverberated across the community, our team took a step back to assess the materials and explore possible avenues, while Microsoft, like any company, has a responsibility to protect its IP, code and trademarks. It's not optional in other words."

As mentioned previously, they are open to communication with the ElDewrito crew about this "admittedly difficult situation." They shared that both parties are upset by the most recent development and that the next step will try to keep the playerbase in mind, "One thing remains clear – the community really wants more Halo on PC. As we look ahead, we're very excited about the prospects of an official classic Halo experience making its way to PC and we hope to be able to partner with the ElDewrito team and broader mod and content creation community to help inform the types of experiences and features our fans desire. While we have nothing to announce today, please know that the PC community is very important to us and top of mind as we work towards the future."

To read more about the backstory that lead up to the decision, as well as a statement to "clear up confusion," you can check out the full blog post here.