‘Halo 5’ Release Date Not Included In Xbox One 2014 Games Lineup, Here’s Why

The Halo 5 release date wasn’t included when Microsoft released the official Xbox One 2014 games list today. Halo fans everywhere probably felt the urge to write angry tweets to Microsoft this morning, but it was explained later exactly why the game wasn’t listed.

Halo 5 is still being released in 2014, technically.

Bungie’s flagship game series has been one of the Xbox’s bestselling exclusives from the beginning. We have come to expect incredible gameplay and a deep story from the travels of Master Chief and his successor, and Halo is considered one of the best first-person shooters ever made. The Halo 5 release date is highly anticipated, but its absence was noticed on the list of Xbox One games for 2014.

Among the games announced on the list were:

• Titanfall – a game that may suffer an early death if EA doesn’t get its servers ready.
• Watch Dogs – Ubisoft’s next killer IP, which was delayed so it allegedly wouldn’t be competing with established heavy hitters like Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and its own Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The official word is that Ubisoft wasn’t done putting the finishing touches on it, and the game wouldn’t be ready by the next gen console launch.
• Project Spark – the game is basically a video game maker. We can probably expect a new wave of Indie developers due to this game’s inspiration.
• Sunset Overdrive – an open world shooter involving acrobatics and murderous mutants, as well as a fun cell-shaded art style.
• The Division – the latest in the long-running series of games based on the Tom Clancy novels, set in a post-apocalyptic New York City.
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – an ambitious action role-playing game which concludes the Witcher saga.
• Destiny – Bungie’s latest project is departing from its Halo roots while still giving us extraterrestrial shooting shenanigans.

More Xbox One 2014 games were announced, but Halo 5 was absent from the list. The Halo 5 release date is still due in 2014, but it will be released under a yet undecided name.

Halo PR manager Rob Semsey was quick to hit Twitter after Microsoft’s list of games for this year neglected to mention the game:

“Xbox Wire today mentioned a few 2014 titles; Halo on Xbox One not listed due to official name of the next title not announced yet.”

“Rest assured your next Halo journey WILL begin in 2014. #staycalm.”

Xbox One gamers will see the Halo 5 release date in 2014, but it won’t be called Halo 5.