Halo Has Become Too Important for Microsoft

Ed Fries, who worked on the development of the Xbox 360 hardware and led the Microsoft Game Studios at one point, spoke to the Official Xbox Magazine in the United Kingdom about how the strong connection between the Microsoft home console and the Halo franchise threatened the series at one point.

He said, “In the later years was almost a curse from my point of view, because it had become so important to Xbox that it started to affect Halo.

He added, “When people think that the most important part of the Xbox is Halo, then Halo has to be there for the launch of Xbox 360 or it can’t miss its date that’s gonna make a worse Halo. It’s like Halo becomes more important than the Xbox, and I never wanted it to be that way.”

The developer says that his main aim was always to create the best video game in the Halo series and he was never interested in creating something that pointed out the strengths of the Microsoft home console.

Fries also revealed that when the first Halo title was out the team never anticipated that it would become a global phenomenon and one that would deliver four main games in the space of a decade.

The quality of the game persuaded Microsoft to put some advertising money on it and the rest is history.

At the moment 343 Industries, a development studio made up mostly of Bungie veterans, is working on a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved that will be launched during next month exclusively on the Xbox 360.

The game will offer support for the new Kinect motion tracking system and will deliver updated graphics and some gameplay tweaks.

A whole new title in the Halo franchise, the fourth one to focus on Master Chief, will be launched in 2012.