‘Halo 5’ Xbox One Viral Marketing Begins With #HuntTheTruth, Will Campaign Be Bigger?
The marketing machinery for Halo 5: Guardians has begun to turn. A viral Tumblr website went live Thursday that comes with two themes for the upcoming Xbox One shooter – “Hunt the Truth” and “Traitor.” The 343 Industries Franchise Director also teases that the campaign should be larger than Halo 4‘s.
O’Connor shared the Halo 5 viral website via his Twitter account. A bullet features prominently with the word “Traitor” branded across it with a countdown clock. There’s also a button for the #HUNTtheTRUTH hashtag at the bottom, along with a reminder option for when the Tumblr site will be updated next.
The countdown is on http://t.co/mnEg1I3ooM #Halo5 #HUNTtheTRUTH
— Frank O’Connor (@franklez) March 20, 2015
Whatever is to be revealed about Halo 5 from the site will happen Sunday, March 22, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
Halo Bullet teaser on #TheWalkingDead tonight 9/8c. More to be revealed online at http://t.co/eXpncmiRfF. pic.twitter.com/b0ldUQsrrL
— Xbox (@Xbox) March 22, 2015
The #HUNTtheTruth hashtag fits in with what we know about Halo 5 so far from the added cutscenes in The Master Chief Collection and elsewhere. The Master Chief has gone missing from the UNSC and Agent Locke is trying to track him down. Whether the split was caused by what happened at the end of Halo 4 or something that is going to happen in the upcoming comics or novels is unknown.
The “Traitor” branding on the bullet is likely a clue. It’s hard to imagine the Master Chief being treated as traitor to the UNSC. However, it could also be referring to Doctor Halsey, who did take a traitorous turn towards at the end of the Spartan Ops campaign in Halo 4.
We’ll have to wait and see, but this isn’t the first time that a Halo game has used a viral marketing gimmick. The most well-known event was the I Love Bees alternate reality game for Halo 2.
After sending out the Tweet about the site, O’Connor teased some additional details in a NeoGAF thread. He stated that the “Campaigns should be bigger, if anything,” after one forum member brought up how he expects Halo campaigns to be “epic.”
The Halo 4 campaign didn’t reach that same level of epic-ness compared to previous titles in the series. There have been rumors that the Halo 5 campaign could go open-world. We probably won’t have to wait long for a confirmation. With the game expected to launch later this fall, the marketing and hype machine will be going full steam ahead very soon. The #HUNTtheTRUTH website is just the beginning.
[Images via Halo Waypoint, Hunt the Truth Tumblr]
[Edit: Corrected the times the site will go live.]
