Halo for Xbox One

[ChrisFPS]

Now that Microsoft has the Xbox One announcement out of the way, it's pretty much a given that the Halo property will be coming to the new platform, and chances are it's going to happen sooner rather than later.

So here are the possibilities for the next Halo installment on Xbox One:

Halo 5. 343 Industries' chance to redeem itself and fix everything that made Halo 4 such an imperfect game.
Likelihood: Low
Rationale: It simply hasn't been long enough since Halo 4 to get a sequel any time soon. Microsoft will likely continue milking this game with DLC (none of which will probably be worthwhile) to get maximum return on its investment.

Original Halo game. Something that will be set in the Halo universe but will either be non-canonical or use an alternate gameplay or belong to a non-FPS genre, similar to Reach or Halo Wars.
Likelihood: Medium
Rationale: It would be a significant investment to create a brand new game based on Halo, especially if you want it to run on new Xbox One architecture. However, because expectations for non-canonical games are not as high as for direct sequels, Microsoft could farm it out to a third party for relatively cheap and see what they can do with it.

HD Remake. It worked wonders for Halo CE and the Xbox 360, and it would do the same for Xbox One.
Likelihood: High
Rationale: HD remakes are tedious to make but most of the work is technical, not creative. This is a perfect project to assign to a studio that has a lot of programming savvy but no real superstar experience in the creative department. By working hard and putting a lot of overtime hours into upgrading models, making new textures, and replicating physics, they could make a blockbuster title for the new console without taking a lot of risks.


My conclusion is that the first Halo game on Xbox One will be a Halo 2 Remake. It is the next in line, the logical choice, and the cheapest to make. Microsoft knows that Halo is its hottest franchise and will undoubtedly use it to promote the new system. I expect development to be in early stages and the release will be scheduled for the slowest part of the year for gaming. So expect Halo 2 on Xbox One in the summer of 2014.

 

[Spartan Ops]

Frank O'Connor (former Bungie manager who abandoned ship to become the Halo franchise director at 343 Industries) denied a Halo 2 remake in an interview with a Spanish gaming mag last fall, but a lot of things have obviously changed since then, and his denials are usually extremely vague (typical Microsoft PR style).

So yeah, both the choice of game and the timeline are plausible to me.

 

[ItsInTheGame]

The only thing I'll agree with is that Halo 4 was one of the most incompetent sequels in gaming history. Other than that, I don't care.

 

[FearTheBoltshot]

Frank O'Connor (former Bungie manager who abandoned ship to become the Halo franchise director at 343 Industries) denied a Halo 2 remake in an interview with a Spanish gaming mag last fall, but a lot of things have obviously changed since then, and his denials are usually extremely vague (typical Microsoft PR style).

He is a manager at Microsoft. The first thing M$ teach a brand-new exec is "You leak anything, say good-bye to your bonus and probably job too." So whether Halo 2 remake is in development now or not would not change Frank's denial of it.

If a remake is in the works, it's not Frank's job to announce it. These decisions are made by sales and brand management people who rank much higher than this dude.

 

[AvalonX]

Well they don't have a 5 next to it but it looks like Halo 5:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fEKcOK8gno[/youtube]

That thing looks like a war sphinx from the new books.

 

[Joker99352]

I didn't realize people felt so strongly about Halo 4. You certainly can't tell by the amount of people playing its multiplayer all the time. I loved it, but it felt more like a spin-off (along the lines of ODST) than an actual mainstream Halo game. That said, I think it may be some kind of spin-off rather than the next entry in the 'new' Halo trilogy that they'd supposedly making.