‘Halo 5: Guardians’ Confirmed by Microsoft for Xbox One in 2015
Halo 5: Guardians has been confirmed by Microsoft for the Fall of 2015. The entry will be the first Halo game on the new Xbox One and the second game in the series solely developed by 343 Industries, the studio tasked by Microsoft to curate the Halo franchise.
The official press release from 343 Industries was big on promises and goals, but not so much on details which is to be expected when the game is over a year from launch.
In the past, “Halo” games have pushed the Xbox forward, showcasing the console and its ecosystem in entertaining and innovative ways. Making a “Halo” game that runs at 60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade, is non-trivial. It’s a task that we, at 343 Industries, are taking very seriously to ensure we deliver the “Halo” game that fans deserve, and a game that is built from the ground up for Xbox One.
Halo 5: Guardians was first shown in a teaser trailer for E3 2013 by Bonnie Ross, the General Manager for 343 Industries. During that official reveal at the Microsoft keynote, Ross stated that the “journey” to Halo 5: Guardians would begin in 2014 which will be revealed in more detail at the Xbox E3 2014 Keynote. Rumors point to this as a remastered edition of Halo 2 which launched on the original Xbox in 2004 which would make it a perfect 10 year anniversary gift for fans.
In addition to Halo 5, the Halo TV series will be launched in the Fall of 2015 with Steven Spielberg attached to the project as well as “some of the finest creative mind in the business.” The series makes good on Microsoft’s plans on making the Xbox One not just a gaming machine, but an entertainment hub for the next “water cooler”.
There is also no word yet on how Kinect 2.0 will be integrated into Halo 5, but with the news that the Kinect is now officially an add-on rather than an integral part of the Xbox One, it should be safe to assume that 343 Industries is being tasked to make the Kinect revenant both with voice commands and gesture control, something no studio has successfully done to date.
From the official press release:
In the past, “Halo” games have pushed the Xbox forward, showcasing the console and its ecosystem in entertaining and innovative ways. Making a “Halo” game that runs at 60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade, is non-trivial. It’s a task that we, at 343 Industries, are taking very seriously to ensure we deliver the “Halo” game that fans deserve, and a game that is built from the ground up for Xbox One.
Halo 5: Guardians will be an important title for Microsoft in selling the Xbox One which, to date, is still following behind Sony’s PlayStation 4. Newly appointed division head Phil Spencer is slowly turning the Xbox One message around and as part of this effort, the Xbox One needs 343 Industries to make a game that will sell not just software, but the Xbox One as well.
