The future of the Halo franchise, following the development and release of Halo 4 is certainly bright. Tasked with creating a new Halo series after series’ creator Bungie left Microsoft, 343 Industries rose to the challenge. Even if the result isn’t the best Halo of all time, it’s certainly a notch above most first person shooters.
Producer Kiki Wolfkill looks at it as a notable “first step” in building credibilability with the hardcore Halo fanbase. Based on that, we could see the next Halo go many new places. Perhaps across different genres, and with different characters.
Speaking to Polygon about taking Halo beyond the FPS genre, like Ensemble Studios’ Halo Wars did, Wolfkill responded, “How we look at it is ‘Where do we want to be in ten years? What are the stories we want to tell?’
“We have started to flesh out broad strokes of a few different arcs that are interesting. There could be opportunities where exploring a different game genre makes sense or exploring a different linear format makes sense.
“If the medium fits what we want to do, then we’ll definitely consider it … if there’s a great idea we get energized around.”
She also hinted at possibly exploring the story across different points of view, perhaps like Halo 3: ODST did. “I think it was an important thing for [Master Chief] to come back in Halo 4. He’s always going to be a pretty critical component of Halo and the game experiences.
“I would hope that we could also build strength and investment in other characters, for no other reason than that’s part of what makes the universe interesting.
“Master Chief’s not going away, but we need to be able to give people more connection points.”
She did also point out that, “Innovation has always been part of the Halo game pillars. That needs to continue. That will continue because there will be new platforms on the horizon and we’ll be able to do things differently.” Halo 5 on the Next Xbox? Sign us up.