Halo Reach listed at $1250 on Xbox Live Marketplace (and why you can't buy it)

No, this isn't a glitch. Halo: Reach is technically available on Xbox Live Marketplace right now, a full month before its official retail release. But before you load up on Microsoft Points to get early access to the game, be warned. Even with $1250 worth of MS magic money, you won't be able to download the game. Unfortunately, you'll need a special code that unlocks it.

According to an official Microsoft Support document, "customers can see the item in the Web Marketplace but cannot purchase it unless they have the special pre-paid token ... The content is available only to users who have a special 25-character pre-paid token that enables them to download the item."

It's likely that the full version of Halo Reach is being offered to reviewers via digital distribution; however, don't expect Halo: Reach to be available via the Games on Demand service. Microsoft had previously enabled early digital distribution of Crackdown 2 for reviewers -- and Crackdown 2 is still unavailable to the public via Xbox Live.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson has offered this statement on the matter: "We plan to provide a limited number of copies of Halo: Reach using the Games on Demand technology for media review purposes only. While we are thrilled to be able to take advantage of the technology to provide media with a more accessible and convenient review experience, there are no plans to launch Halo: Reach to the public through Games on Demand."

[Thanks, don!]

Reader Comments (66)

they went through all this trouble to make it digitally available for reviewers, why not on release make it available for everyone. If I'm not mistaken wouldn't Microsoft make more money bypassing retailers and selling it digitally?

@JAK33
Servers probably cant handle the stress and gamestop would be pissed form all the sales they would lose

@shruikan

That and it would most likely piss off a lot of retailers, retailers in which Microsoft needs.

@Faenix not really, retailers need Microsoft, steam seems to do very well with digital distribution and they could care less about retailers

wow y not just w8 till the game acctually comes out to save like $1000 somethin dollars??? its only a month lols xD

@peter pham

O_O

wait no i mean

o_O'

I believe it could've been more than just 99999 Microsoft Points if the digit limit was higher.

@CrashTunoku

This is why I like sonys rate system, you cant rate on anything unless its in your download history.

Lame, if i drop over a thousand bucks on a game, then i want to play it NOW

@(Unverified) Also who would pay that much for a halo game...blah

I recently saw the Noble Team Helmet on Xbox.com for the same price.

ballz...

well, if it is being offered to reviewers by digital distribution, that means it's inside a simple content package. easy to anonymise, be good if one of those reviewers was awesome :P

@Faenix; I like it too, but seeing as I'm not the only person that purchases stuff on my PS3, I can't rate everything I've played. But then there's that other problem of people rating something 5 stars the second they buy it (some PS Store update content is rated 60-100 times mere minutes after it's released).

Would be nice if both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network allowed you to rate games specifically based on what titles are in your trophy and achievement lists.

@ben linus

Either the fans are assuming, or someone is paying someone else
to make it appear if a lot of people already like the game.
Dummy accounts? Not saying that the game isn't any good,
just that I'd like to see genuine people rating the game after
they've played it.

Offering the game, for reviewers, as a download sounds better
than having to send them the game, and hope that they don't
give it away. Now, they could always sell their consoles,
or if they hack into it, rip the content and post it online.

Of course, I'm assuming that Microsoft has already thought of
these scenarios, and have put measures in place to prevent
them.

Halo: Reach

Halo Reach listed at $1250 on Xbox Live Marketplace (and why you can't buy it)

Reader Comments (66)

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 5:26PM JAK33 said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 5:32PM shruikan said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 6:36PM Faenix said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 6:41PM JAK33 said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 5:27PM peter pham said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 5:34PM Acosta02 said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 5:54PM Teh Rei said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 6:35PM Faenix said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 6:47PM Kuragari said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 6:48PM Kuragari said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 7:01PM A1 Game Sauce said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 7:19PM jport1975 said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 7:30PM stoker25 said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 9:40PM Haelie said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 11:04PM GlassAgate said

Posted: Aug 16th 2010 11:06PM GlassAgate said

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