What ended the video game mascot wars?

[o.pwuaioc]

Mario is a franchise... and it branches out away from mario as well, just like halo branches out away from master chief...

But the orientation is different. Master Chief could be in every single one, but it's still not Master Chief who's the mascot, it's the Halo name. Likewise with Call of Duty/Modern Warfare. I almost think that Zelda is the same thing as well. Meanwhile, very, very few Mario games exclude Mario.

[treismac]

Master Chief could be in every single one, but it's still not Master Chief who's the mascot, it's the Halo name.

I agree. Master Chief is not a crucial element to what makes Halo Halo. He might well be the mascot for the XBox, but his helmeted face doesn't sell XBoxes- Halo does.