# I Love Bees (Halo 2 ARG)

> 42 Entertainment claimed three million players for its payphone ARG promoting Halo 2.

- Owner: Microsoft (client); 42 Entertainment (agency)
- Kind: Campaign
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: 2004-07-16
- Milestone date: 2004-10-18
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 33 (Niche, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Mystery & lore, Fandom mobilisation, Platform jump, Press loop, Identity badge

## Summary

A hidden trailer address and mailed honey led players to a corrupted beekeeper site. Forums and IRC coordinated payphone calls that unlocked an audio drama, and fans put a bee placard on CNN. The agency later claimed three million players.

## Timeline

- 2004-07-16 — Microsoft / 42 Entertainment (Open web) — Players found the corrupted beekeeper site after Steve Peters received honey with letters spelling its name.
- 2004-07-20 — Celina / beekeepers on IRC (Group chats) — Players directed newcomers to the #ilovebees IRC channel through a comment on Dana's blog.
- 2004-07-23 — Slashdot / simoniker and commenters (Open web) — Slashdot linked the trailer discovery and readers debated the site, its clues and Microsoft's involvement.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/ilovebees

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “I Love Bees (Halo 2 ARG).” Case HIS-01584. Spread Score v1.3: 33/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01584