It worked, it just wasn't going to sell. The problem is, it wasn't going to sell because of its circumstances. PC gaming is already not as lucrative as it used to be, and Russia is already a hotbed of piracy, and Halo is biggest in North America. Combining all those downsides like that is a baffling decision.
The thing I want most out of this (as usual) is real, direct answers on why they did things the way they did. I don't even want to tell them they're wrong, I'm sure they had their reasons, I just want to know.
My guess is Saber got approval to make it in Russia because that's where they're based and Microsoft doesn't care as much about that market but never got approval to release it elsewhere because it could hurt the brand, and dropped it when they saw it wasn't financially worth it.
(and yes I know they must have their reasons for not telling us, but in the past, when this kind of information has finally come out, it's almost never been something that's not understandable or forgivable)
I get it, I do. I program, I've worked on game stuff, I've copied other people's projects and modified them-- with permission. It's fun and it's a good way to learn and it's nice to be able to point to something, even something that you didn't start, and say "I made that what it is today".
However, I don't know for sure, but I think it's safe to assume the EULA for this software did not allow people to redistribute and modify it like this, and the people who were let into the beta for it must have agreed to that, so even though it was free they still broke that agreement. It's also worth remembering this mod project started while that beta was still underway, when there was full expectation of a product to be sold. Yeah it's kind of a shitty agreement given how things ended up, personally I wish software would allow the same things that physical devices allow (if you buy, say, a washing machine you're free to take it apart and modify it) but agreements are not made to be broken, and treating some as breakable and others as unbreakable shows a real lack of integrity.