How Creative Assembly tried to make Halo Wars 2 more accessible on Xbox One

Microsoft has a lot riding on Halo Wars 2, a real-time strategy exclusive that debuts on the Xbox One and Windows on February 21. The game has been in the works for a couple of years at the Creative Assembly, the United Kingdom studio behind the Total War series.

Creative Assembly’s job is to break the curse of real-time strategy games on consoles. It turns out that it’s far easier to play such games with a keyboard and mouse, rather than a game controller. To make the game more accessible on consoles, the developer simplified the gameplay and focused on big moments when you can bring in the special abilities of your Spartans and other forces to turn the tide of battle.