The franchise will continue to respect its origins, according to Frank O'Connor

Sep 28, 2012 07:12 GMT  ·  By

The long running Halo series needs to innovate in order to continue delighting its fans, at least according to the developer of the upcoming Halo 4, 343 Industries, but it doesn’t need to start copying other successful first-person shooters, like Call of Duty.

Halo 4 is out on November 6 and already it’s shaping up to be a successful start of a new trilogy for Microsoft’s popular franchise.

In order to stay relevant, however, the series needs to continue innovating with its future installments, according to 343 boss and the Director of Franchise Development for Halo, Frank O’Connor.

The executive has recently talked with CVG and has emphasized the role of innovation for a series like Halo, congratulating the creator of the franchise, Bungie, for its inspiration and dedication.

“It does need to innovate,” O’Connor said. “Bungie had this great history of evolutionary innovations. Matchmaking, for example, were not completely new but the way it was implemented was a new benchmark for the industry.”

Innovation has been a goal for O’Connor and his team at 343, but the studio didn’t try to change everything for the sake of change, as it still needed to deliver an experience that was fun for longtime fans and for new players.

“But we're not trying to radically overhaul anything - we are trying to make it more fun primarily. The biggest innovation in Halo 4, I would say, is Spartan Ops, because it's essentially a TV show we are producing. We simply do not know how the public are going to respond to it.”

While 343 has definitely observed different franchises, like Call of Duty, and even hired members of their staff, O’Connor emphasizes that Halo won’t start copying other games.

“We haven't tried to chase that tail,” he said, in regards to Call of Duty’s success. “Those games are good for specific reasons, and Halo is good for a different set of specific reasons. I think the closest we've come to that conversation about Call of Duty, is that we wanted to have an amazing player progression experience that wasn't just aesthetics.”

Halo 4 is out on November 6, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 arrives on November 13, so it’s going to be interesting to see just how the two games will perform.