Just a little more than a week ago, in a post on this blog I asked the question whether Microsoft would broker a deal for the domain name Halo4.com, after Microsoft had revealed Halo 4 at E3 without owning the domain.
You read it here first: The company now owns and re-directs the domain to its official Halo 4 site on Xbox.com.
The domain literally just changed hands today. Yesterday, it was still registered to Scott O’Reilly (the seller), who I’ve contacted for comment and will update this post if I hear back.
Though the company doesn’t own Halo.com or Halo1.com, it owns Halo2.com, Halo3.com, and now Halo4.com.
As of today, here are the WHOIS records for Halo4.com.
Administrative Contact:
Microsoft Corporation
Domain Admin ()
Fax: +1.11
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
US
Name Servers:
ns1.msft.net
ns2.msft.net
ns3.msft.net
ns4.msft.net
ns5.msft.net
Yesterday, the WHOIS records still pointed to Scott O’Reilly.
Domain name: halo4.com (as of June 14, 2011)
Registrant Contact:
-
Scott O’Reilly ()
Rochester, MN 55901
US
It’s hard to fully understand Microsoft’s strategy of announcing game titles, then purchasing the domain names after the fact.
One can only imagine what the effect is on the price.
[UPDATE: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 08:15 PM EST: I just received a reply from Scott O'Reilly, the previous owner of the domain. When I asked about the selling price/negotiations with Microsoft, all Scott could tell me is that the only term of the agreement that he can disclose is that he can't disclose any terms of the agreement. So, there you have it.]
Discussion: ComputerandVideogames.com, VGChartz, and Kotaku
