14 DAY TRIAL // After the launch of Halo: Reach, the last game in the series that original developers Bungie worked on, a lot of fans of the series expected it to go dark for some time before returning under the leadership of the newly formed 343 Industries.
But there are two major Halo titles now in development and at least one executive believes that the success of the franchise is intimately linked to that of the Xbox 360 as a gaming platform.
Phil Spencer, who is the leader of the Microsoft Game Studios division, has told the Official Xbox Magazine in the United Kingdom that, “If we lose our way with Halo, we lose our way with Xbox, because Halo and the importance of games like CoD and other shooters, that state of the art needs to continue to move forward, and our team at 343 need to move forward with that. That’s always going to be one of our success criteria.”
The potential pitfalls for the Halo series are not a big threat, however, because the developers who make up 343 Industries, the outfit now in charge of the series, have the experience necessary to make good games.
Spencer added, “The good thing about 343 is that they’ve had the time, through the dev of Reach, working on getting the map packs out, and getting to know the infrastructure and the build systems and everything about Halo.”
The Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition is now under developed and should be out this year to celebrate ten years since the launch of the seminal shooter while Halo 4 is also being worked on and should be launched in time for holiday season 2012.
There has been no clear detail offered on Halo 4 and on the story that it might deliver, but it seems crucial for the franchise to bring back key players Master Chief and Cortana.