A Turning Point for the Franchise?

It’s no secret that Xbox Game Studios’ ever iconic Halo franchise has been in somewhat of a rut over the past few years, often getting sidelined in favor of other up-and-coming franchises. To make matters worse, both its latest projects with Halo Infinite and Halo the show ended up getting cut halfway before reaching their full potential, with the latest official game being released nearly 4 years ago.

Even though Halo Infinite had fantastic potential with its open world, combat, and grappling-hook mechanics that felt like natural innovations for the series, the full package ultimately failed to deliver with one of the series’ weakest stories yet. Even if Halo Infinite and the franchise’s overall lack of updates are more than a little concerning, Halo Studios could have just the surprise in store to correct the issue later this month.

Halo Studios Are Preparing Several Announcements For Its World Championships

Offering A Potential Turning Point For The Iconic Sci-Fi Series

Ahead of this year’s Halo World Championship, Halo Studios has announced that they plan to unveil several new projects at the live event on October 24 for players to look forward to. Even featuring the iconic voices of Master Chief and Cotana themselves by Steve Downes and Jen Taylor respectively, the announcement aims to be a continuation of the “A New Dawn” Unreal Engine teaser released the previous year.

Even if the original Unreal Engine teaser didn’t reveal much, aside from the stunning visual potential the next game in the series aims to achieve with its concepts, rumors, and concerns over a Halo: Combat Evolved remake make even more sense after its debut. While it wouldn’t be much of a surprise for a remake announcement at this point, the Halo World Championships could bring with it something even more exciting.

The Halo Franchise Desperately Needs A New Game To Look Forward To

The Iconic Protagonist Deserves Another Chance To Shine

Given the complete radio silence over the nearly four years since Halo Infinite‘s release and its cliffhanger ending, a brand-new sequel for the series could be precisely the jumpstart that Halo needs to thrive once again.

With even more recent rumors that Halo is coming to PlayStation soon, the upcoming announcement has the potential to bring in a whole new audience to the franchise. Even if the PlayStation 5 port rumors are a few months old at this point, it wouldn’t be surprising as a last resort to get the series out of its current rut, while reducing the financial risk of developing another Xbox-only exclusive.

Given how mixed the reception was for Halo Infinite‘s predecessors, it could lay down some excellent foundations for the next entry in the series to build upon. With a tighter focus on a story that strikes a balance between respecting the originals while not treading the same ground, I’m cautiously optimistic about seeing what Halo Studios has in store later this month.

Systems

Released

December 8, 2021

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood, Mild Language, Violence

Developer(s)

343 Industries

Publisher(s)

Xbox Game Studios

Engine

Slipspace

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Cross-Platform Play

PC, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

Cross Save

yes