Honestly, I am not sure if this has been discussed before, but I know one way 343i can save Halo 2 for the PC.
Add it onto Steam…
Now I assume some may be against this due to Windows/Xbox Live and Steam being possible competitors, but honestly, this will probably boost sales ALOT and keep the multiplayer going strong and no need to shut down the servers.
Lemee explain
Lets face it, Steam is HUGE on the PC, and its probably the most popular digital game distributer on the PC. If Halo 2 is to be released on Steam, millions of users will see it, and if its not overly expensive or does not require Vista, people will likely buy it. Give it time and after they beat campaign or just jump right into multiplayer, you will have populated servers again. Plus a boost in sales looks good to any game company.
Not sure if you’ll get enough support? Add it to Steam greenlight. If people are interested it will be accepted and Valve will contact the devs so it can be uploaded onto Steam at a fair price and will be added to the front page of the Steam store.
Although I feel like 343i won’t read this, but one CAN hope
I dunno, Halo 2 fans, what do you guys/girls think? I think Steam will save Halo 2’s inevitable shutdown of the servers. I wanna play Halo 2 online anyways, its my favorite for multiplayer (Followed closely by 3) and with populated servers and Steam support, it would not be that bad.
I am all for Halo 2 being added to steam. Either it being through Steam Greenlight or a deal with Valve. Putting it on steam would definitely bring a ton of people to the server. People are still playing the first Halo online and the community for the second was huge. I believe and im sure a ton of other people would agree that bringing it to a digital distributor would revive the game.
it’s funny because there’s already an official group for Halo 1-3 on steam. official groups are made for games that already exist on steam. Here, click this and you’ll see what I mean: http://steamcommunity.com/actions/Search?T=ClanAccount&K=“Halo”
I think that right now, putting past Halo titles to Steam and even giving support for pre-xbox 360 games and pc games is something that is not on Microsoft and/or 343’s agenda, as with the recent closure of “Games for Windows Live.”
I would like to see this happen but I just don’t think we will see it.
Holy crap, when I read that about the groups I had to go to Steam myself and look it up. If they are adding Halo 1-3 on Steam I am buying them in a heartbeat! Funny though when I click them they are unavaliable but they are still listed, so still in development or being confirmed is my guess.
> Holy crap, when I read that about the groups I had to go to Steam myself and look it up. If they are adding Halo 1-3 on Steam I am buying them in a heartbeat! Funny though when I click them they are unavaliable but they are still listed, so still in development or being confirmed is my guess.
also, there is a halo3.exe in AMD’s beta drivers.
There’s also an article on all the evidence found courtesy of Examiner:
http://www.examiner.com/article/halo-3-coming-to-steam-after-all
> I think that right now, putting past Halo titles to Steam and even giving support for pre-xbox 360 games and pc games is something that is not on Microsoft and/or 343’s agenda, as with the recent closure of “Games for Windows Live.”
>
> I would like to see this happen but I just don’t think we will see it.
dude, Microsofts latest pc games have been on steam
P90, I am shocked and happy at the same time. I wanted just 1 and 2 on steam but possibly 3, shut up and take my money steam.
You can put the games on steam, but that does not save Halo 2 Vistas online play.
You can buy GTA IV on steam, but in the end you are required to install the Games for Windows Live Client if you want to play online.
Games for Windows Live will be shutting down in 2014.
Let’s face it guys. Halo 2 along with all the other GFWL games are finished. It’s the end of the line. Come July 1st, 2014 GFWL servers will be shutdown. Just like the original Xbox servers back in 2010. It’s over. I will miss it just as much as you did but all good things eventually come to an end. Now there is a slim chance that a few developers/companies will patch their own games and remove the GFWL requirement and/or add it to Steam. However don’t expect this to happen with all games especially the older titles. I do not see this happening with Halo 2 despite all the evidence about Halo 1-3 coming to PC. I still think this will not happen.
Why does everyone have to be so pessimistic? Unless someone hacked steam and somehow made official groups (Which are only made for games in development or are already on steam) then that is very strong evidence that something good is going to happen. Not to mention the halo3.exe found in AMD’s beta drivers. Who cares about GFWL, This thread is about the games possibly coming to steam.
TL;DR Let us have some hope, There is very strong evidence of the games coming to steam, GFWL is way off topic.
It’s not going to happen, but it would be great for the population. Maybe every game wouldn’t be tanks on Coagulation then 
> There is very strong evidence of the games coming to steam, GFWL is way off topic.
GFWL is relevant. If Halo 2 PC is sold on Steam, GFWL will still run the multiplayer portion. That is how GTA IV works on steam, and that is how Halo 2 PC would work. Come next year GFWL will shutdown along with multiplayer functions of Halo 2 PC and many other games.
Doesn’t matter where you sell the game, the online functions will be gone.
> > There is very strong evidence of the games coming to steam, GFWL is way off topic.
>
> GFWL is relevant. If Halo 2 PC is sold on Steam, GFWL will still run the multiplayer portion. That is how GTA IV works on steam, and that is how Halo 2 PC would work. Come next year GFWL will shutdown along with multiplayer functions of Halo 2 PC and many other games.
>
> Doesn’t matter where you sell the game, the online functions will be gone.
i think you misunderstand, what he means is to update the game to use the steamworks system to handle achievement’s and multiplayer allowing the game to last for potentially decades due to steams popularity.
> > > There is very strong evidence of the games coming to steam, GFWL is way off topic.
> >
> > GFWL is relevant. If Halo 2 PC is sold on Steam, GFWL will still run the multiplayer portion. That is how GTA IV works on steam, and that is how Halo 2 PC would work. Come next year GFWL will shutdown along with multiplayer functions of Halo 2 PC and many other games.
> >
> > Doesn’t matter where you sell the game, the online functions will be gone.
>
> i think you misunderstand, what he means is to update the game to use the steamworks system to handle achievement’s and multiplayer allowing the game to last for potentially decades due to steams popularity.
Well if that is the case that would be awesome. But I honestly can’t see 343/Microsoft actually taking the time and funding into remaking an old game to be compatible with Steamworks. If you are not aware MS has been going though an entire company wide restructure plan and I highly doubt it that they would focus more on pc games that use GFWL. They are currently involved with Windows 8, Windows 8 games, and of course the new Xbox One. I just don’t see why a company would want to go back to the old game and update it. It won’t bring in enough profits to do that and we all know what MS focuses on… $$$$$
Why do you think MS announced that GFWL will be shutdown on July 1, 2014. They are not making enough $ to keep the service open and supported. So naturally they would just shut it down. I know it sucks. I hate it but that is the reality of the situation and I think we all need to accept it. As much as it hurts to say… Halo 2 PC had a good run. May 31, 2007 - July 1, 2014. 6 years doesn’t seem much for a video game but at least it lasted this long instead of 3-4 years like many EA sports games.
in all honesty i don’t really care that much about halo 2 multiplayer, i can still play halo ce over ip connect if the servers go down
> > > There is very strong evidence of the games coming to steam, GFWL is way off topic.
> >
> > GFWL is relevant. If Halo 2 PC is sold on Steam, GFWL will still run the multiplayer portion. That is how GTA IV works on steam, and that is how Halo 2 PC would work. Come next year GFWL will shutdown along with multiplayer functions of Halo 2 PC and many other games.
> >
> > Doesn’t matter where you sell the game, the online functions will be gone.
>
> i think you misunderstand, what he means is to update the game to use the steamworks system to handle achievement’s and multiplayer allowing the game to last for potentially decades due to steams popularity.
I see that as unlikely. Microsoft is a stingy company when it comes to policies, especially with their own first party titles like Halo.
Recent discoveries on Steam suggest Halo may be coming to the PC platform, but there is still much we don’t know yet.
> > > > There is very strong evidence of the games coming to steam, GFWL is way off topic.
> > >
> > > GFWL is relevant. If Halo 2 PC is sold on Steam, GFWL will still run the multiplayer portion. That is how GTA IV works on steam, and that is how Halo 2 PC would work. Come next year GFWL will shutdown along with multiplayer functions of Halo 2 PC and many other games.
> > >
> > > Doesn’t matter where you sell the game, the online functions will be gone.
> >
> > i think you misunderstand, what he means is to update the game to use the steamworks system to handle achievement’s and multiplayer allowing the game to last for potentially decades due to steams popularity.
>
> I see that as unlikely. Microsoft is a stingy company when it comes to policies, especially with their own first party titles like Halo.
>
> Recent discoveries on Steam suggest Halo may be coming to the PC platform, but there is still much we don’t know yet.
Let us hope for the best then? I hope they update the next Halos with steamworks multiplayer support and such so we don’t have to use GFWL again, which in my opinion kinda sucked.
If Microsoft wanted to make money then selling it through a digital service would really bring in some income. And yes they could use Steamworks for servers if they came to a agreement with Valve.
In all honesty the only thing we can really do is sit back and wait. Considering as mentioned that they are focused on windows 8 and Xbox one its probably not the first top priority for them.
Head’s up high lads!