Microsoft has just announced the next instalment in the massive Halo franchise. Halo 5: Guardians will be the first original Halo title for the new generation and will be released in the fall of 2015. The game is developed by 343 Industries who made Halo 4 and took over the franchise from after Bungie left in 2011. The announcement was made by 343 Industries’ general manager, Bonnie Ross. In a statement on the official Xbox website, Ross wrote that, ”Halo 5: Guardians is a bigger effort than Halo 4. That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand new and more powerful engine”. ”Any time you transition to a new platform, there is the opportunity to look at things with a new perspective. For us at 343 Industries, the launch of the Xbox One was an opportunity to think about what stories we wanted to tell, how to tell them, and how best to push the Halo franchise to showcase the platform” she said.
Halo 5 was initially revealed at Microsoft’s E3 press conference last year. The IP is incredibly important to Microsoft and the company know how vital Halo 5 will be in driving sales of Xbox One. ”In the past, Halo games have pushed the Xbox forward, showcasing the console and its ecosystem in entertaining and innovative ways” Ross said. ”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.
Ross also hinted that Halo 5: Guardians won’t be the only game in the franchise to come to Microsoft’s new console. Ross ended her post by saying, ”many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. I spoke about a “journey,” rather than a destination – and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step. We’ll give you much more information about our plans for this year at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing on June 9, and we’re confident that Halo fans will be pretty excited about the special plans we have in store”. This seems to be hinting that the long rumoured Halo 2 remake will be revealed at this year’s E3 conference.
We’ll bring you all the details on Halo 5: Guardians as they emerge.
Via Xbox.com