Ever since it was reported that "Halo Online" is coming to PC only in Russia, fans of the franchise from other countries have been excited to get their hands on the said game. Many were hard at work to mod the game and make it playable to other regions but it seems that their efforts would all be in vain.
In March 2015, the developers of the video game "Halo" confirmed that they are developing a PC version for the shooter game to be a Russia-only release. This led many fans of the franchise to look for a way to access the said game.
According to Game Spot, modders of "Halo Online" were successful in tinkering with the game's codes and uploaded a video that outline a way for players outside Russia to access the game.
Dubbed as "El Dorito," the mod created by someone, who goes by the name "Woovie," shows a trailer of the multiplayer online game. It also showed in-game purchases that players could do to customize their characters, reported Eurogamer.
Woovie revealed to TorrentFreak that, "We of course still don't know 100 per cent what items are purchasable with real money, but it would appear at first glance to have pay-to-winpotential."
The modder added, "We also of course want to play this game, which as far as we see, is a Russian market only game."
Microsoft already filed a copyright takedown motion against Github which hosted the mod of the video game.
The company reiterated that the PC version would only be available to players in Russia. In fact, the whole game was created with Russian infrastructure to cater to the local market's taste in the said country.
"While we're thrilled there's so much interest outside of Russia, the beta of Halo Online is a PC experience tailored specifically for the tastes, tech and infrastructure of the Russian market and furthermore, is still in an early state," said an official from Microsoft.
The spokesperson added, "As such, we want to ensure a quality experience for our beta participants within Russia which could be impacted through unauthorized use."
A report in Techdirt noted that the "Russia-only" option could eventually change to include other regions. The site quoted a previous statement from Microsoft that mentioned the company considered opening the PC version to other countries.
"Right now our focus is learning as much as we can from the closed beta period in Russia. Theoretically, any expansion outside of Russia would have to go through region-specific changes to address player expectations," said a Microsoft spokesperson.
While this is not an actual confirmation that "Halo Online" is coming to other countries, it does not provide an outright denial as well. It remains to be seen how the developers would move forward with the PC version in the coming months.
Meanwhile, "Halo 5" is set to arrive on game consoles in October 2015.
