Halo: Reach Beta to Boost ODST Sales

When the Halo: Reach beta drops on May 3rd, many Halo fans will be scrambling to their gaming rigs to look for that copy of Halo 3: ODST that’s been sitting in their library since the 2009 holiday season. But as these players blow the dust off their copies of ODST, will other Halo fans just be unwrapping theirs?

Microsoft recently told CVG that this might be the case. Stephen McGill, director of Xbox and Entertainment at Microsoft, said that “the demand for Halo 3: ODST will be reinvigorated as soon as the public beta kicks off.” The only way to get into the Halo: Reach beta is by using a code that was provided with each copy of ODST. McGill claims that there are many fans of the series who are fond of the Halo universe, but never gave Halo 3: ODST a shot. The Halo: Reach multiplayer beta might be the thing that pushes these gamers to get to their retailers and pick up a copy of ODST.

However, when you compare the general reception of Halo 3 to that of ODST, you’ll notice that game reviewers had more praise for the former. Halo 3 beats ODST by 11 points on Metacritic; one could argue that Halo 3 was a more meaningful title to the franchise. The argument that the more “hardcore” Halo fans made a point to purchase ODST early on wouldn’t be too far from the truth. One can’t help but ask: why make the beta available exclusively to owners of ODST?

It’s possible that Microsoft may not have felt as confident with ODST. The Reach multiplayer beta would be a good opportunity to reel in players who did buy Halo 3 and didn’t buy ODST. But will the Reach beta really be enough to get gamers to shell out the cash for their own copy of ODST?

McGill says that the £24.99 ERP (approximately $33 USD) price tag is a great value for both the ODST and Reach beta experiences. Although we can’t argue with that, it’s also possible that the many Halo fans that care about getting their hands on the Reach beta already have their own copy of Halo 3: ODST locked and loaded. At this time, we can’t say for sure how many more units of ODST will be sold due to the Reach beta. However, it does seem like the Halo fan who would buy ODST closer to its release date may be the same kind of fan that would buy ODST for the Reach beta. Microsoft could be mistaken with their optimism here.