Tag: DNStination Inc

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Microsoft acquires Halo 7, Halo 8 & Halo 9 domains via brand protection company

Halo 4

  • Microsoft hints at future of Halo franchise with Halo 7-9 domain names

  • Halo5.com, Halo9.com domains acquired by Microsoft in Feb/March 2012

  • Halo4.com acquired in 2011 for undisclosed amount after E3 unveiling

  • Halo.com does not belong to Microsoft, belongs to product distributor

With all the Microsoft video game talk about Halo 4 that is scheduled to be released on November 6, 2012, Microsoft is looking to the future and working to protect its Halo brand online.

This week, the company acquired several more domain names centering around its cash cow Halo, hinting that the franchise will be around for years to come.

Through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, Microsoft has apparently acquired the domains halo7.net (Whois), halo7.org (Whois), halo8.org (Whois), halo9.net (Whois) and halo9.org (Whois).

It’s unknown whether Microsoft opened its checkbook to get the names and it’ll likely remain that way.  History has shown that the terms of agreement between Microsoft and private domain sellers is not disclosed publicly.

Each of the newly acquired names is registered to DNStination Inc, a Whois privacy service administered by MarkMonitor.  The change in ownership took place within the last 48 hours.

Halo9.net

Microsoft has had a busy twelve months acquiring Halo-related domain names.

In March of this year, it secretly acquired Halo5.com and Halo9.com from their previous owners using Corporation Service Company’s Name Rally.

In 2011, Microsoft acquired Halo4.com for an undisclosed amount from its previous owner.

So, what does Microsoft’s Halo dotcom scorecard look like?

Here’s a look.

Halo.com – active website owned by HALO Brand Solutions, not Microsoft.

Halo1.com – active website owned by HALO ONE, not Microsoft.

Halo2.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.

Halo3.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.

Halo4.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.

Halo5.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.  Privately registered.

Halo6.com – parked by Colby Thiesen, not owned by Microsoft.

Halo7.com – active website, not owned by Microsoft.

Halo8.com – active website owned by Halo 8 Productions, not Microsoft.

Halo9.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.  Privately registered.

Halo10.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.

Talking about this story: Computerandvideogames.com, Capsule Computers, EGMNOW, elotrolado.net, Eurogamer.pt, FOK!, Game Informer, Game Rant, Game Revolution, Gameranx, GameZone, IGN, MCV, MeriStation, NowGamer, playm.de, Shack News, Strategy Informer, Tecmundo, VG247 and Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine

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News Video Games

New League of Legends (LoL) Supremacy game likely on the way [UPDATED]

League of Legends: Supremacy

[UPDATE 5 October 13, 2013:. A hacker by the name of “Jason” posted images of card templates for the yet to be released League of Legends: Supremacy digital card game.]

[UPDATE 4 October 13, 2013:. Marc Merrill’s Twitter account has been breached, and information about a Supremacy card game has been leaked.]

[UPDATE 3 June 15, 2012:. The identity of Supremacy.com’s owner is no longer a secret.  The Whois privacy on the name has been removed, showing the name “Riot Games, Inc.” as the registered owner. Details: LoL big announcement soon? Riot now reveals itself as owner of Supremacy.com.]

[UPDATE 2 May 27, 2012:. Riot Games filed a trademark application on May 22, 2012, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for “League of Legends: Supremacy”.Details: Riot Games makes it official, trademarks League of Legends: Supremacy.]

[UPDATE 1 May 19, 2012:. Despite all the best efforts of MarkMonitor, a company that prides itself on protecting the brands of the world’s leading companies, it failed to add Whois privacy to leagueoflegendssupremacy.org. Details: Proof that Riot Games is behind the League of Legends Supremacy domain name registrations.]

ORIGINAL STORY: Domain names can often be a good indicator of a company’s plans.  And based on the large of amount of domain registrations and acquisitions recently, it looks like Riot Games is preparing to release a brand new game mode for League of Legends called Supremacy.

Back in late February, another domain blog Rogue Domaining had noted that leagueoflegendssupremacy.com and .net had been privately registered by the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.  While registering two domains may signal nothing more than a company trying to protect its intellectual property, I’ve discovered additional strong hints that Riot Games will be introducing League of Legends: Supremacy in the near future.

First off, Riot Games is a client of MarkMonitor, a firm that over half the fortune 100 rely on for brand protection online.  While the key is to be discreet when registering names for yet-to-be-released games, months ahead of its Dominion game mode release, MarkMonitor registered names like leagueoflegendsdominion.com (Whois).

This week, MarkMonitor registered a slew of typos of League of Legends: Supremacy domains including:

leageoflegendssupremacy.com
leageoflegendssupremacy.net
leagueoflegendsupremacy.com
leagueoflegendsupremacy.net
leaugeoflegendssupremacy.com
leaugeoflegendssupremacy.net
lolsupramecy.com
lolsupramecy.net
lolsupremecy.com
lolsupremecy.net
lolsupremicy.com
lolsupremicy.net

Now add to that, Riot Games has apparently acquired the generic domain names Supremacy.com (Whois) and Supremacy.net (Whois), which you can most certainly assume did not go for cheap, dropping hints that League of Legends: Supremacy is definitely on its way.  You don’t spend the kind of money it takes to buy generic names like these for defensive purposes unless you have a plan.

Days ago, both names transferred from their previous owner to MarkMonitor.  The tie-in between Supremacy.com and the other League of Legends names, is that on the same day MarkMonitor registered the typos of leagueoflegends.com and lolsupremacy.com, it also picked up typos of supremacy.com like supramecy.net, supremecy.net, supremicy.com, and supremicy.net.

While nothing is official yet, with all these new domain registrations revealed here in the past week, news of a new game mode seems very close.

Talking about this story: League of Legends subreddit, GameZone, VG247, League of Legends Community, Neoseeker, IchSpiele.cc, OnlineWelten.com and Gameplorer.de

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News Video Games

Sequel may be closer as Activision secretly acquires BlackOps2.com domain

Black Ops 2

Black Ops 2

A sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, one of the best-selling games of all-time, may seem more likely as it appears Activision has secretly acquired the domain name blackops2.com.

First registered in May 2010 shortly after Black Ops was announced, the domain remained under Whois privacy up until this week using Go Daddy’s Domains by Proxy service.

Now, the domain blackops2.com (Whois) has switched from Domains by Proxy to the privacy service provided by internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, who caters to over half the Fortune 100, of which Activision is a client.

In August, I reported that Activision went through MarkMonitor to buy up a slew of Black Ops domains, all the way up to BlackOps6.com. 

Missing from the list was blackops2.com. 

A deal has now apparently been struck.

Treyarch, the development studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops, hasn’t officially gone on record to say it is creating a sequel.  But with all these domain acquisitions, signs point to a Black Ops 2 being a very strong possibility in 2012.

If a cash amount was paid, the sale price of the domain will likely remain unknown, as the previous owner’s identity and contact information were hidden through Go Daddy’s privacy service.

As of today, BlackOps2.com does not resolve a web page.

[Update 1 on February 17, 2012: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been outed by Amazon reports GameSpy.]

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