Xbox might have something planned for the Halo franchise. In a series of posts, Windows Central’s Jez Corden has implied that the company is getting ready to make a big announcement regarding Halo. However, what this announcement will entail remains to be seen.
During a “drunk” AMA session on Twitter, Corden was asked by many fans about whether there are any details about the future of the Halo franchise. To many of these questions, he responded “stay tuned”, “soon”, and “yes, you’ll find out more within a day”. At the time of publishing, however, no announcement has come from Halo Studios or Xbox.
As for whether this announcement is going to be good news or bad, noted industry insider and leaker NateTheHate said in a post on ResetEra that it all comes down to perspective. While he acknowledged that layoffs will be bad, details about the future of Halo will likely attract different reactions from different people.
“The Halo news will vary individual to individual. Layoffs are bad, of course; but as for the series’ future… people will react in a variety of ways.”
Halo Studios has kept relatively quiet since the release of Halo: Campaign Evolved just a couple of months ago, and reports have indicated that the title hasn’t quite done as well as the developer or Xbox would have wanted. According to Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics, the title sold 1.2 million copies as of last month, with Xbox having the largest player base at 42 percent.
The report also indicated that being available through Game Pass may have hurt the shooter, with 2.1 million players allegedly using the subscription service to spend time with Halo: Campaign Evolved. Less than 600,000 players ended up spending money on the Premium Edition upgrade as well, which had provided five days of advanced access prior to the game’s release. Steam seems to have been the poorest performer for the title.
Another report has indicated that Halo Studios is continuing its work on the franchise, albeit with the help of external studios. Along with the fact that15 different studios were credited for work on Halo: Campaign Evolved, according to noted Halo leaker Rebs Gaming, Halo Studios is believed to be in talks with Activision to work on a brand-new project for the franchise.
While an Activision studio had reportedly developed a prototype to demonstrate what this project might look like, it got canceled back in July. However, a prototype’s cancelation doesn’t necessarily mean that the entire project has been put on ice.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. In our review, we gave the shooter a score of 9 out of 10, praising how the remake improved the core combat flow of the original with the inclusion of sprinting. We also noted that it provided a considerable upgrade when it came to visuals. However, the lack of any PvP mode might be a dealbreaker for some, since the franchise is known for its excellent PvP, while Halo: Campaign Evolved, as its name implies, focuses largely on the campaign and even offers a co-op mode.
